The Rose and the Maelstrom
by Raisuke The Lightning Herald
Summary: The Valley of the End marked a turning point for Uzumaki Naruto, now sent on a new mission she must adapt to a new home, a new family and all the problems that come with it. Did I mention the new name... Yang Xiao Long, huh? This'll take some getting used to.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note - Hello all. My name is Raisuke and I thank you for reading my story. This story has been in the works for a while and I thought I would begin to release it before RWBY volume 2 began airing. The entire story came from the observation of Yang having blond hair and purple eyes, traits that could have been found in a female Naruto. Blond hair from Minato and purple eyes from Kushina. This is an AU, meaning it will differ from canon and I hope you're okay with that. Pairings have been decided but will not become serious for a good long while.

Disclaimer - I do not own RWBY or Naruto. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively, please support the official releases

-Chapter One Start-

Naruto felt numb, she'd never felt so numb before in her life. It had been a week since the Sasuke retrieval mission, since Sasuke died. It was just before they set out for the mission, when Tsunade said the fatal words.

Flashback

"Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, Kiba... Naruto." Tsunade began, looking between the 5 team members. "If Sasuke is there of his own free will, refuses to return and if capturing him is too dangerous for you to take alive, kill him. We can't allow Orochimaru to gain the Sharingan and I will not allow you to lose your lives to return a traitor." She said to the shock of all the rookies present. They could only nod slightly, Neji being the one quickest to recover. "Now before Naruto can argue, this is only in the worst case scenario. Now go, quickly. Every second you wait is a second they get closer to Orochimaru." She finished before shunshining away.  
The quiet group quickly turned and ran out of the gate towards Sasuke.

Time Skip

Kimimaro had run ahead with the coffin, Tayuya had engaged in combat with Shikamaru and Kiba and Sakon had gone over the cliff leaving Naruto as the only member of the retrieval team left to chase Kimimaro. As she moved after him she heard Shikamaru shout out. "Naru, remember Hokage-Sama's orders. No matter how much it hurts, remember her orders."

Time Skip

"Sasuke, come back to Konoha, please. We're begging you Sasuke, please. You'll only suffer and die if you go to Orochimaru." Naru pleaded, if only she could get him to listen.  
"Don't waste your breath Dobe. I can feel the power that Orochimaru can give me. I can feel it flowing through my veins. He can only give me more power and by killing you I can gain the same eyes as Itachi, I will kill you on the next attack, Dobe." The mutated Sasuke yelled while charging up a chidori which quickly increased in power.  
Naruto was choking up inside. Why? Why wouldn't he come back? He knew he was only going to his death, why couldn't he just let go of that hatred and come home to where people care for him. Now he was going to kill her, she could see it in his eyes, he was going to end her on his next attack. What should she do. Unbidden images came to her. '"If Sasuke is there of his own free will, refuses to return and if capturing him is too dangerous for you to take alive, kill him. We can't allow Orochimaru to gain the Sharingan and I will not allow you to lose your lives to return a traitor." Tsunade said to the shock of the rookies.' '"Naru, remember Hokage-Sama's orders. No matter how much it hurts, remember her orders." Shikamaru shouted after her.' '"You know... My greatest regret is that I let Orochimaru go. I let my feelings cloud my judgement, to my eternal regret." A drunken Jiraiya said to Naruto.'  
'No matter how much this hurts, I must do it.' Naruto thought while charging up a rasengan in one hand, which quickly turned purple due to the demonic chakra. "Sasuke... For what its worth I'm sorry. You can't go to Orochimaru, I have my orders. I'm sorry but you will die on my next attack." Naruto yelled out to Sasuke as they ramped up the power of both their attacks.  
"So this is it then? Two team-mates, one an avenger, one an idealist. One a genius, one a Dobe. A final clash, only one comes out alive." Sasuke cackled as his Chidori turned black. "Die Dobe." Sasuke yelled as he jumped towards her.  
Leaping forward to meet him she begins to yell. "Sasuke."  
"Naruto." Sasuke yelled as he flew through the air towards her.  
"Rasengan/Chidori." They yelled in unison as the attacks collided. A black sphere of pure chakra was created around the pair, expanding until it began destroying the Cliffside. When the dome faded the outcome was decided.  
Naruto was left standing, while Sasuke lay dying on the floor of the Valley of the End. She was numb, she had won, but at the cost of Sasuke's life. She collapsed onto her knees crying her eyes out.  
"Why Sasuke? Why? Why'd you do it Sasuke? Why, why did I have to kill you? Why?" She sobbed out of her purple eyes as she cradled Sasukes body against her. "Why wouldn't you come back to us?" She said in a small whisper.  
"Naruto." A soft voice came from Sasuke. "Thank you, my mind is my own. I'm sorry Naru, I'm sorry for being so weak."  
"No, Sasuke I'm sorry for not being strong enough to save you." Naru whispered as Sasuke coughed up some blood.  
"S-shut up Dobe. It's my fault, I gave into my hate too easily. I gave into Orochimaru too easily, I let Itachi get to me, I let my jealousy of you get the best of me. I let them get to me and overtake the most important things to me." Sasuke whispered through bloody lips. "I have to thank you. You, Sakura and Kakashi have made the past 6 months the best times I've had since the massacre. I only wish it didn't have to end, that we could be together forever."  
"I wish that as well Sasuke, why did Orochimaru have to fuck up our lives 'ttbane." Naruto said, spitting out the last sentence.  
"I'll never get to revive my clan now, I guess the Uchiha clan fully dies out. The Uchiha curse of hatred wiped us out." Sasuke said in melancholy. "You know Naru, you were actually at the top of my list for who to revive my clan with. You above any of the fan girls, I wanted someone who was nice but wouldn't take any shit off of me."  
"Sorry Sasuke. There was a reason I always asked Sakura out. You sure dream big." Naru choked out.  
"A man can dream." Naruto began sobbing harder as she listened to the last words of her friend. "From the first day in academy through to right now, you would do your own thing. Without heed of who wanted what. I always liked that about you. Don't tell Sakura but I always did like long hair like yours." He continued despite the blood dribbling out of his mouth. "Naru... It feels cold, it feels so cold." Sasuke shivered in her grip.  
"It's almost over now Sasuke, you'll see your family in a moment." Naru whispered to him.  
"I know that Naru, live long, live well, get strong... Become the strongest in the world. Maybe we'll be reunited someday." Sasuke said in a quiet voice. "But it had better not be for several more decades."  
"I know Sasuke. I'll see you around." Naru whispered to him.  
"I'm warm now... I can see a light. Guess this is it. Goodbye Dobe."  
"Goodbye Teme." Naru sobbed out as Sasuke went limp, his eyes glassy. Naruto just cradled him to her chest and started wailing, she cried and wailed until Kakashi burst into the Valley.

Flashback End

Konoha was divided in their opinions of her, the Chunin, Jonin and ANBU were full of respect for her. She had stamped down on her emotions to finish her mission, no matter how much it hurt her. The retrieval team still liked her, as did their unofficial team member in Rock Lee.  
Tenten didn't know Sasuke so she didn't care all that much that he was dead.  
Kakashi... He was spending all his time at the memorial stone, muttering something about Rin when he saw her.  
Sakura... Sakura was avoiding her. She didn't know what to think, her one team-mate was killed by her other team-mate as they clashed in a life or death battle.  
Shino and Hinata were only able to impart a few words, that she wasn't to blame, to not blame herself.  
Surprisingly the leader of the elders, Danzo congratulated her on completing her mission and killing her emotions to complete her duty.  
Unfortunately the majority of the civilians were calling for her death, as were the Sasuke fan club. To her credit Ino was only sending hate-filled glares that even after a week was beginning to lessen.  
It had been a week of both the respect she craved and constant death threats and assassination attempts. She had been called to Tsunade's office for what she had been told was an important reason.

* * *

"Hey Baa-chan." Naruto said in an unusually quiet voice. As she entered the room, it was quite funny that one of the ANBU started looking for ragnorok.  
"Naru-chan." Tsunade said almost pained at Naruto's tone of voice. "Thank you for coming. I have to tell you some distressing news. Last night someone broke into the morgue and stole Sasuke's body." She said to Naru's shock. "The symbol of Akasuna no Sasori was found so we believe Akatsuki was the group that took him." At that Naru looked down, clenching her fists in anger while trying to not pull on the Kyuubi's power.  
"We also just got word from Jiraiya, Akatsuki is going to be lying low for at least 3 years." Tsunade continued. "As such we have to prepare, 3 years until Akatsuki move. On top of that we've had a complication." She said as she pulled out a bingo book and flipping it open. "Orochimaru is very angry." Taking the book from Tsunade she was shocked by what she read. Wanted Dead 15000000 Ryo by Oto was Uzumaki Naruto. It even noted that she was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.  
"Due to all this and your eligibility for it you are going to be sent on a long term mission." Tsunade continued, shushing Naruto before she could even begin to protest. "Naru, while I do think this would help you it's also because you are the only person who can do this mission, potential political ties hinge on this mission. The mission starts officially in 1 year but it will require you to spend the year familiarising yourself with the area and the new family you will be living with. Naruto, please consider this, it will be a good thing for you." Tsunade said, almost begging at the end.  
Naruto was getting angry until she heard her Baa-chan's tone of voice. Sighing to herself she looked up at Tsunade before motioning for her to continue.  
Smiling slightly she started her spiel. "Now, as you know the Elemental Nations are but one continent on this wide world. We are generally a closed border continent but we have recently been in contact with a kingdom known as Vale. They are willing to make a treaty with us, a trade treaty. We get the technology we need from them and they get several high quality minerals that the Elemental Nations have in abundance." She began while making sure Naruto understood.  
"Now the kingdom, despite being called a Kingdom is a democracy. They would need to democratically choose to become an ally of Konoha, that is where you come in. Currently visiting Konoha is the ambassador from Vale, he was showing us some of the equipment that could be open to us, it's how we knew what was happening in the retrieval mission, their spy camera's are amazing. Anyway, he came up with a plan to help the democrats make their decision." She briefly paused to take a swig of Sake.  
"As such this is where you come in. The other continents are all inhabited by a group of creatures known as the Grimm, soulless creatures of darkness that try to kill all they come across. The various kingdoms train people to become Hunters and Huntress's to kill the Grimm and protect people. The mission should you choose to accept it is to become a Huntress." Tsunade paused to let the pin drop. "You will be adopted by the ambassador and his family. His name is Xiao Long Shen or in their customs, Shen Xiao Long, his wife is Rose Summer or Summer Rose. They also have a 10 year old adopted daughter called Rose Ruby or Ruby Rose. You will start at Signal Academy where you will attend for 4 years, after which you will go to Beacon Academy for another 4 years, after which you will be a Huntress. This is a mark of goodwill between our countries and essential in the creation of the treaty. You will start at Signal in 1 year time, the year up to that is time for you to prepare. Learn the culture, the customs, the geography and the technology."  
Looking Naruto dead in the eye she finished. "The ambassador doesn't want to adopt you because of the mission, he wants to adopt you because they want a second daughter, its just this way everybody wins. They get a new daughter, you get a family, Vale & Konoha get their treaty." Sighing slightly Tsunade rubbed her head. "Please consider this Naru, you need it, in 6 months you've lost Sarutobi-Sensei & Sasuke, you've lived through an invasion and a Kage level battle, you've nearly died too many times to count. You need a break, I can see you cracking and it hurts me. Please Naru, I know you want this, please, do what's best for yourself for once."  
Naru was quiet, her head down in thought, a family. She could have a family at the same time as doing her duty. But she felt like she was running away, running away from her troubles and that didn't sit right with her. After a few minutes she spoke up. "Can I think about this for a while?"  
Tsunade nodded slowly. "You have until 9PM to make your decision." She said before dismissing Naru, who Shunshined away to the top of the Hokage monument, more specifically the Yondaime's head.  
She sat there alone for hours just staring at Konoha while lost in her thoughts. It had reached 8PM and she still had no idea what to do, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cane on the stone. Turning around she caught sight of Shimura Danzo. She turned back towards the Konoha Skyline, they stayed like that for a minute before Danzo spoke. "Konoha is a beautiful place, is it not? A peaceful, beautiful gem." He began. "A gem that needs everyone to do its part. Everyone must pitch in, even if they hurt themselves to do it, but you know that, don't you Uzumaki. The ability to weigh the pro's and con's and avoid making a selfish, emotion based decision is the most valuable ability in my opinion, an ability you have proven you have."  
"Sarutobi was an old friend, did you know. I was even his rival for the position of Hokage, we were two sides of the same coin. In my opinion Sarutobi was too soft, too hesitant on the hard decisions, too emotional in his actions." He continued. "Now by admission I have been described as too hard-line. I am too hard in my decisions, to my detriment. But there was one thing we agreed upon, all for the good of Konoha. I know of the decision of which you must now make, you are currently trying to decide whether to go or not. You are wondering whether the best thing for Konoha is to stay or to go, if you stay will you do more good or if you go will you do more good." He said while staring at her with his only eye.  
"You are a unique case, you have enemies, enemies that can cause a lot of damage. You need to take that into account. If you stay out in the open they will come, you need to disappear and gain strength. You know this, do you not? But you feel that it is cowardly, to go into hiding, that you are running away. I used to feel like that as well, until I learnt that discretion is the better part of valour, a Kage must be able to do what's best for their village, even if it seems to be under handed or cowardly. All for the good of Konoha."  
Sighing Naruto thought over the entire speech. After hearing that their was only one decision that could be made. Standing up she looked out over Konoha one last time. Sighing she said. "Konoha, I guess I won't be seeing you for a while."  
Turning back she wasn't surprised to see that Danzo had vanished, but was surprised to find a scroll on the ground. A scroll containing various wind techniques. 'That was surprisingly nice of him.' Naru thought before shunshining back to the Hokage tower in time to catch Shizune beginning to leave the tower.  
"Shizune-nee-chan. I need to talk to Baa-chan, to give her my decision." Naru said in a small voice.  
"Sure Naru-chan, she's doing paperwork at the moment, just go on in." Shizune said in a cheery voice.  
Walking up the stairs she continued until the big doors to the Hokage's office were in front of her. Taking a deep breath to compose herself she pushed the doors open before walking inside to see Tsunade attempting to hide a Sake bottle, at least until she saw it was Naru. "Hey Baa-chan." Naru said in her quiet tone.  
"Hey Gaki, how are you doing?" A slightly buzzed Tsunade asked. "Have you made your decision?"  
"Yeah I did, how long until I leave?" Naru asked, answering her.  
"You leave at dawn, from the East Gate. That's why it was so urgent for you to make your decision. You have until then to say your goodbyes." Reaching for a pen Tsunade quickly wrote a note before signing and stamping it. "Here, you can use this to visit Kiba and Neji. Everyone else, you're on your own. I'll be there to see you off."  
After saying goodbye she began to walk to the hospital, ignoring the glares of the civilians. Getting inside she quickly gave the note to the nurse to be allowed inside to visit, since Choji was still in observation she could only visit Kiba and Neji, who were in the same room.  
"Hey guys." Naru said as she entered the room. "How you guys doing?"  
"Naruto-san/Dobe." The pair said in unison.  
"Why are you here Naruto-san? It is outside of the visiting hours." Neji said in his usual formal tone.  
"I got permission to come and say goodbye to you guys. I will be leaving tomorrow for a long term mission, I probably won't see you for a long time. Its for a minimum of 10 years." Naruto said to their shock. "I also need to tell you something before people tell you a twisted version."  
"What do you mean you have a mission? We only just finished one!" Kiba yelled. "And what do you mean 10 years, what the hell kind of mission takes 10 years."  
"I'm being adopted Kiba, my mission is to attend their monster slaying academies as the adopted daughter of the ambassador to help speed up treaty negotiations. Schooling lasts until age 22 for those who go into monster hunting." Naruto said, cutting off Kiba. "They needed a girl who was 12 years old for the mission, preferably an orphan, and with my circumstances I was the best person for the job."  
"What circumstances Naruto-san?" Neji asked.  
Well, being blunt has always worked out for me in the past. "I'm a Jinchuuriki." She blurted out, causing Neji to break his composure and Kiba to look confused. At Kiba's asking look she elaborated. "My body is a prison, a prison for a Biju. More specifically the Kyuubi no Yoko."  
"But..." Kiba began before Naruto cut him off.  
"You see, a Biju can't be killed, they're a living mass of Chakra, they can only be sealed away. The Kyuubi is too powerful to be sealed away in an object and a normal human would die from poisoning within 3 days, only a child whose Chakra coils have yet to form can survive." She continued, beginning to ramble. "It doesn't effect me and can't talk to me unless I go to him and even then he's kind of an asshole..." She was cut off by a dog treat hitting her in the head, turning she saw an annoyed Kiba and an exasperated Neji.  
"Naruto-san... You're rambling." Neji said. "Are you worried that we'll turn against you?" A slow nod from Narumi confirmed his suspicions. "Why? We can tell you're not the fox, why are you worried?"  
"Past experience..." Naru said weakly. "Just about all adults know about it and I've had a few mobs attack me."  
"I don't care, all I know is that it explains the red chakra." Neji stated.  
"It explains why you smell like a fox." Kiba said with a shrug before grinning. "It would also explain why you're so foxy." He said with a perverted grin.  
There was a short silence before Naru responded. "Sorry Kibble, grow a pair of tits, then we'll talk about that." Neji and Kiba both face faulted from that before Kiba was knocked unconscious by a nose bleed. Even Neji was pinching his nose. "Well guys, I gotta go, see you around." Naruto said as she began to leave the room.  
"One second Naruto-san." Neji said as he quickly wrote in a scroll before sealing it shut and throwing it to her. "Those are some advanced chakra control exercises and... Something I could get in trouble for giving you. Try not to read it until you are on your mission."  
"Goodbye Neji." She said gratefully.  
"Goodbye Naruto-san."

* * *

So far she had visited the Nara and the Hyuga clans. Shikamaru proclaimed her mission was troublesome and that he already knew of the Kyuubi but it was 'too troublesome to matter.' Hinata gave a stuttered, teary goodbye which ended with Hinata giving her a large pot of her herbal balm. She actually already knew about the Kyuubi, the bingo book was almost required reading to the Hyuga clan. She visited Kono-chan who ended up crying while proclaiming that he would be strong enough to defeat her by the time she came back. Iruka just nodded sadly before sharing a late dinner with her.  
Now all she had left was to visit Sakura. Kakashi-sensei would find her and for Lee she only had to wait until dawn and listen for the screams about youth. Now here she was standing outside of Sakura's families apartment at midnight. She was sure the Haruno Patriarch and Matriarch wouldn't appreciate the wake up call so that left her one option.  
Slowly she walked up the wall and began looking through the windows until she found Sakura's room. An annoyed groan could be heard on the other side the moment Naru knocked shuffling could be heard within the room until the window was pulled open. Poking her head out Sakura hissed out through gritted teeth. "Naruto-baka, its midnight, what are you doing here."  
"Sorry Sakura but I need to talk to you." Naruto answered back.  
"Why can't it wait until morning?" Sakura asked in annoyance. Naruto muttered something incomprehensible causing Sakura to quickly hiss, "Speak up."  
"I won't be here in the morning Sakura. I have a long term mission, I'm leaving and won't be fully back for 10 years." Naruto explained slowly while waiting for Sakura's explosion. Surprised when instead of pain she was pulled inside the room and hugged by a crying Sakura, who broke down rather quickly.  
"W-w-why is everyone leaving me?" She sobbed out while gripping onto Naruto. "First Sasuke dies, now you're leaving. Why?" Tears were streaming down her face as she began crying on Naruto's shoulder.  
They ended up staying like that for a while, Naruto just comforting her, it continued like that until Naruto finally spoke up.  
"I was alone for so long Sakura, for so many years I only had myself. I was kicked out of the orphanage age 4, I had to fend for myself on the streets until I was 6 years old." Said to the shock of Sakura. "That was when the old man found me." She said with a soft sad smile. "He took me to go get Ramen at Ichiraku Ramen. It was the first cooked meal I had ever had, before that I only every had the refuse from the creation of meals or what I could scrounge from the trash. Hokage-jiji, Teuchi, Ayami-nee. They became my first precious people." Naruto continued while stroking Sakura's hair. "After that I was given an apartment and enrolled in the academy. I was so scared, I thought I would be hated by everyone there and for the most part I was. All the civilians had told their children to stay away from me, the clan children just followed the crowd." She said sadly to the sound of Sakura's sniffing.  
"Then I saw you, you were avoided and made fun of by the other children because of your forehead. I wanted to become your friend but by the time I had gained enough courage to speak to you Ino had already snatched you up." Naruto sat there for a few minutes just thinking. "I ended up watching you for a long while, in the same way you watched Sasuke... Well how you watched him until you gained your confidence."  
"I always wanted to be your friend and eventually those feelings magnified." She said with a small smile. "Well you know what happened after that, until the Genin exam. I failed it and when I was upset Mizuki came and told me that there was a make up test, like an idiot I believed him. I had to break into the Hokage's tower and steal a scroll marked forbidden. He told me that it was a test based around a mission, so I stole the scroll."  
"I was able to steal it using my Oiroke no Jutsu to knock out Jiji. Afterwards I travelled to the forest clearing where Mizuki told me to meet him, Its where I learnt the Kage Bunshin."  
"Anyway, it turned out that he had turned traitor, he wanted to steal the scroll for himself and blame me for it. Fortunately Iruka-sensei found me first and helped fight Mizuki and help me with the revelations of the night."  
"Mizuki... Mizuki told me why I was hated. Why for my entire life I had to put up with the glares, the sneers, the loneliness... The beatings." Naru choked out to Sakura's shock. "I found out the truth behind the events of the day of my birth. I was born on the 10th of October 12 years ago, in the middle of the Kyuubi attack. The Yondaime couldn't kill the Kyuubi, nobody can kill a Biju, they're nothing but a solid mass of chakra and emotions, even if you dispersed it, it would reform after a few years."  
Sakura nodded, that fit what she had read despite the Kyuubi story contradicting it. "Where is this going Naruto?" Sakura said after a protracted silence.  
"A Biju can only be sealed, and a beast of the Kyuubi's level would escape an inanimate object within the day, so they sealed it in the only place they could, a newborn child less than 3 hours old. It had to be done before the chakra coils were formed to allow for the body to adjust to the Yokai to prevent chakra poisoning." Lifting her shirt slightly while channelling chakra to reveal the seal. "For some reason the Yondaime chose me, he chose me to become a Jinchuuriki. Within my body lies the Kyuubi no Kitsune."  
To say that Sakura was shocked was an understatement but as the silence stretched on her thoughts turned to her memories. Her parents telling her to stay away from Naruto, whispers of demon when Naruto passed by, the red chakra, the foul feeling on the bridge, Orochimaru's words in the Forest of death.  
The silence stretched onwards with Naruto looking more depressed as the minutes passed by. Tears started to fall as she began fidgeting in the dark room. "I'll leave now, Sakura, I'll never darken your door again." Naru sobbed out, believing the worst, until she was pulled back down by a crying Sakura.  
"Please don't leave me, I won't be able to take it. I'm losing everyone, Sasuke, you, even Kakashi-sensei, he only ever had eyes for Sasuke, not even caring what happened to me and you." Sakura almost screamed out. "I am in nearly daily arguments with my family and I'm not close to anyone else. I don't think I could survive you leaving." She sobbed out crushing Naruto in her desperate hug. "Please... I don't care about the Kyuubi, I don't care that you killed Sasuke, I wouldn't care if you were the Kyuubi. Just please don't leave me."  
Naruto softly returned the hug, before kissing the top of Sakura's head. "Sakura, its not that I want to leave, rather that I need to. Orochimaru has a bounty out on my head now, there's also a group known as Akatsuki, made up of S-ranked criminals after me for the Kyuubi and they've already shown that they will enter Konoha to get me. I'm leaving for everyone's safety, as long as I'm hidden they won't attack Konoha and it will give me enough time to get strong enough to beat them." She said gaining fire in her voice towards the end. "I don't want to leave you, but I must. This is for everyone, so everyone can live in peace within Konoha, including you."  
"But I don't want you to go." Sakura said in a whisper.  
"Sakura-chan. I'll return as often as I can, I'll write to you as much as possible and I will do anything I can to see you and Konoha as much as possible." Naruto said. "Sasuke's dead now Sakura. We owe it to him to carry out his will. His goal in life was to kill Uchiha Itachi, the man who massacred his entire clan. The same Itachi that is a member of Akatsuki. We all also carry the old mans will, the will of fire. We owe it to him to protect Konoha just as he did and Akatsuki is a threat to Konoha. That is what we will live for, carrying out those wills, to protect Konoha and to kill Itachi. So we must get stronger, much stronger. We have 3 years before Akatsuki moves and we must be strong enough by then." Looking down at Sakura's wide eyes she finished. "Sad feelings are not worth the tears, save them for the happy moments. We have things to do and accomplish which we can't do if we sit there crying. While it may hurt, being apart, we must persevere knowing we are doing our duty and that that will only make our reunion all the sweeter."  
Letting out a small snort, Sakura relaxed into the hug. "When did you get so smart, Naruto-baka?"  
"Me? Smart? I must correct this injustice with the holy power of ramen." Naruto declared before both broke down into giggles. Falling backwards onto her bed, quietly talking into the night.

* * *

It was 5am before Naruto stood back up, stretching skywards to rid herself of any kinks in her back. Looking at the clock on Sakura's wall she saw that she had 2 hours left until dawn, plenty of time to pack and restock. "I have to go get ready Sakura, I'll see you around." Naruto said to the pinkette.

"I'll be there to see you off Naruto." She quietly said mournfully.  
Slipping out of the window into the darkness she quickly began hopping along the roofs until she reached her apartment. Stepping inside she walked slowly inside, looking her home over one last time. The threadbare couch, the stains on the walls, the old fridge, the cracked floorboards, the kunai ridden picture of Mizuki, all holding memories, good and bad.  
Walking into her room she pulled out her mission bag and began placing various items from around the room into it. Clothing, weapons, books, manga, her money, her night cap, her photo's and her various memento's from her past missions, the autograph from Koyuki, a shattered hunter nin mask, a set of white cat ears, a broken lightning barrel and a red bowtie the size of an ostrich's neck.  
Smiling at each she stopped and sadly looked at a blue clothed forehead protector. It was scratched and dented and slightly bloody with an Uchiwa on the inside, Sasuke's headband. Her eyes began watering before she forcibly stopped them from releasing the tears, she could almost hear Sasuke's voice. 'What are you blubbering about, cry-baby.' Looking downwards morosely she turned the headband around before tying it around her neck as a choker. 'Sasuke... I'll fulfil your goal. May this choker remind me of my promise. I failed in one promise, never again.' Pulling her headband off she attached it to her belt as a buckle.  
Looking around the empty room she repressed a sigh. 'I'll miss this place... So many memories.' Pulling her pack onto her back she walked out the door. Looking at the horizon she could see the sky beginning to turn pink.  
'I guess its time to go.' Naruto thought sadly as she began to walk towards the East Gate. Her walk was stopped by a flash of green and a yell of youth. 'Might as well get this over and done with.'

-CUE-THE-FLAMES-OF-YOUTH-

'Oh dear Kami. I think my eyes are bleeding.' Naruto internally screamed having just got a full blast viewing of the sunset of youth genjutsu. She had been ran into by Lee and Guy-sensei on her way to the East Gate, she was able to say goodbye but... *Shiver*  
The sun was just peeking over the horizon as she arrived at the gate, Izumo and Kotetsu were manning the gate, lazily reclined in the booth. A brown haired man with icy blue eyes, wearing a grey suit with a black cane topped with a rose in his hand, stood off to the side talking with Tsunade. Who raised her head and ushered Naruto over. "Naru-chan, you're right on time, unlike that sensei of yours." She said, mumbling the last part. Waving her hand at the brown haired man she continued. "This is Xiao Long Shen, he's the ambassador from Vale and the person who is adopting you."  
"Hello I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you." Naruto said in a sad tone of voice. Causing the man to raise his eyebrow.  
"You're very chipper today, aren't you?" He said slightly amused. "Being adopted by me can't be that bad, can it?"  
Taking a breath she rubbed the left side of her face with her hand before sighing. "Sorry... Long night, saying goodbye's, preparing to leave." She carefully touched the headband around her neck. "Reliving memories of team-mates lost." She said whispering the last sentence, but it was still heard by everyone. Causing Shen to gain a grim look on his face.  
"That's the thing about life, Gaki. No one gets out alive." Came a voice from behind Naruto. Turning she was able to see Jiraiya leaning against the wall. "Are you trying to leave without saying goodbye?"  
"Ero-Sennin, I thought you were away for another month." Naruto said in confusion.  
"I couldn't not be here to see my cute little apprentice off." He said while messing up her hair. "But don't despair because I'll visit every few months to check on you and give you some training."  
"Yeah, yeah Ero-Sennin." Naruto said, before giving Jiraiya a small hug. "Try not to peep too much, Ero-Sennin. See you in a few months."  
"See you then Gaki and don't hold your breath." Jiraiya said while chuckling. "Well have to get back, see you Gaki." He finished, vanishing in a puff of smoke.  
Turning back around she faced Tsunade who had a scroll in hand. Giving it to Naruto she said. "This is a gift from me and Shizune. Its some medical knowledge that can also be used in combat." Looking her up and down Tsunade continued. "And change your outfit for the love of Kami. Actually, I order you to change your clothing. That jumpsuit stands out too much and will only lead people to you."  
"But..." Naruto tried to weakly argue.  
"Hokage's orders." Tsunade said with a smug smirk.  
"But orange is awesome, 'ttbane." Naruto grumbled. A moment passed before both started laughing, fully dispelling the depressing atmosphere.  
"But seriously I order you to change your outfit." Tsunade said, pulling a bag from behind her back, she threw it at Naruto. "Put those on, no more orange jumpsuits. I order you to get a new wardrobe." Naruto looked like she was going to cry, which turned to mock annoyance upon seeing the amusement upon Shen's face. "Go change now Gaki!" Tsunade loudly said while pointing at the Chunin Station. "There's a changing room in the back, go use it."  
Grumbling to herself she went and changed into the outfit leaving her jumpsuit in the bag. Looking herself over she nodded. She was wearing a yellow halter top with a stylized symbol for fire, over that was a tan vest with puffed up shoulders that was surprisingly easy to move in. She had a tiny pair of black shorts on with a belt that acted like a skirt... At least around the back half and brown calf length platform boots. (Yang's outfit except with Sasuke's headband instead of the scarf.)  
'Bit revealing isn't it?' Walking outside she looked at a smirking Tsunade who was looking at her outfit. "Oi Baa-chan, did Ero-Sennin or the Crazy Snake Lady pick this?" Naruto said incredulously, causing Tsunade to burst out laughing.  
"But I think you look good in it, its far better than the orange eyesore." Tsunade said with mirth before getting serious. "There's one last thing you must know about you mission. To further throw anyone else you will be changing your name. Shen and I spent the entire night coming up with a new name for you. Your name, in their conventions, shall be Yang... Yang Xiao Long."

-Chapter End-

Thanks for reading the first chapter of The Rose and the Maelstrom. Please leave any criticism in the comments but non constructive reviews will be ignored... If you don't like something tell me why, don't just tell me you hate it without the why.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note - Hey guys Raisuke here. Thank you for all the support this story got over the first chapter, I hope I can live up to your expectations. Once again I would like to say, if you have constructive criticism please leave a review so I may improve my writing, non-constructive criticism will be ignored. Thank you and enjoy.

Disclaimer - I do not own RWBY or Naruto. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively, please support the official releases

-Chapter 2 Start-

Yang was now officially freaking out, not only did she have to get used to a new name and say goodbye to her home and friends, but now she was bundled into a strange flying machine, flown up to 50000 feet and then told she would be trapped in the contraption for 6 hours... Wonderful for someone as hyper as her.

Sakura had shown up just as she left and they had their final goodbye before Shen told her that she could return with him during the summer for a month when he came back for more talks. Kakashi... He didn't show up, he'd be late to his own funeral.

Now though Yang was feeling like a caged rat, the space was too small for someone as energetic as her and she was having to get used being so high up.

Turning her head she saw the amused face of Shen, her new father, looking at her. Calming herself down, as Ero-Sennin had taught her during the month between rounds of the Chunin Exams, she looked at Shen with a raised eyebrow and a raised eyebrow. "So... Should I be calling you Pops or something?" Yang asked with a bit of humour in her tone.

"You can call me anything but an old fart I suppose." He chuckled out.

"Yes Ma'am." Yang quickly replied with a shit eating grin. Causing several of the 'aircraft attendants' to snicker.

"And female names should be added to that list I guess." Shen replied with a wry smile. "Why do I get the idea that you're going to be a handful?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not going to be a handful... I'm gonna be a houseful." Yang replied with her grin in place. He seemed nice so far, he could keep up with banter and seemed to have a sense of humour. Didn't Tsunade say he had a wife and an adopted child. "So I was told you have a Wife and Daughter, what are they like?" Yang asked, slightly worried about her acceptance into the family.

"My wife is called Summer Rose, we've been married for 5 years. She a very loving, sweet and motherly woman who is easy to approach and a very good person, but she's easy to anger and very scary when angry but will forgive anyone and offer them redemption." He said with a loving look in his eyes, as if just thinking of her was the greatest thing in the world.

"Ruby is our daughter, She was adopted by Summer just months before we married and she decided to keep Summers last name. She's a shy girl who is smart at some things yet dumb at others, only ever has eyes for Summer, she doesn't trust easily but once she does trust you, you'll never lose it unless you do something unforgivable. But... Well Ruby is 10 years old and at the point where she wants all of Summers attention and can be difficult around anyone who would take the attention off of her." He finished with a wry smile.

"So she's in the brat stage?" Yang asked with a smirk. 'Great, I have another brat to knock some sense into. First Kono-chan, then Inari. I'm about to get a trio.'

A soft chuckle escaped Shen's lips. "Don't tell anyone I said this but she can be a bit of a brat. The amount of times something happens when I take the attention of Summer away from her. Accidental spills, accidental breakages, little pranks... She's a handful." Suddenly he gained a smirk and looked at her with a glint in his eyes. "I've already told Summer about what's happened in the past week. She's going to be all over you like a mother hen. I think I'll be safe for a while." This caused Yang to scowl slightly.

There was silence as Yang gave a light glare towards Shen before she came up with her next question. "What does Summer do as work?" Yang asked.

"She's a huntress. We actually met at Beacon Academy, on the same team. But I always was bad at combat, while she was amazing at it. I eventually dropped out and became an ambassador while she finished and became a Huntress." Shen replied. "She uses a woodsman's axe with various abilities as her weapon. I use short blade hidden in my cane with a pistol in the sheath."

Leaning back and thinking Yang piped up. "D-do you think I'll fit in? That I'll be accepted by everyone? Despite what I am?" She asked, showing insecurity for the first time. "I mean, I killed my team-mate, someone I saw as a brother. Not to mention the fact that I have a fucking demon sealed inside me."

With a mournful sigh Shen replied. "Don't think you're the only person to have to kill a sibling. We are teamed up in teams of 4, out of the original team there are only 3 of us left. Me, Summer and a man I consider my brother called Qrow. Our other team-mate joined a terrorist organisation and we were forced to kill her." Looking up from his lap he looked her dead in the eyes. "It's one of the reasons I chose you, you understand what its like, the pain of having to choose duty over yourself and with the Biju, while Summer already knows, you don't have to tell anyone."

Sighing her stood up and walked out of their area returning with a bottle of whiskey and two cups. "I won't tell if you don't." Was his simple reply to her confused look.

"But I'm not old enough to drink." Yang replied with slightly wide eyes.

"Old enough to kill, old enough to get sloshed over memories of team-mates lost." Was his reply as he poured whiskey into the cups. "Talking helps with these things and alcohol tends to help grease the wheels. Tell me about your team-mates."

'Might as well." Yang thought as she picked up the cup, taking a sip from it before she began. "I met Sasuke on the first day of the academy..."

* * *

Walking from the airship followed by a slightly buzzed Yang. '3 bottles. 3 bottles of whiskey and she's only buzzed.' Shen thought in dismay. '3 bottles would probably kill me and it only makes her buzzed.'

Fortunately the dock was only around the corner from his home. 'Now its time for Yang to meet the family. Hope it goes well.' He thought with his fingers crossed. Walking up to the door he stopped before pulling out a bottle of breath freshener and squirting it into his mouth before throwing it to Yang. "Use that and don't mention the whiskey to Summer. I don't want to be sleeping on the couch tonight." Shen said with a grimace at the thought. Pulling out a key card he swiped it by the door and opened it. "C'mon, lets go meet the family." He said with a smile before walking inside.

The house was fairly large, with 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room and 25 acres of woodlands behind the house, leading up to a cliff.

Looking at the pictures in the hallway she could see that they all featured 3 main people, Shen, a woman with red hair, brown eyes and a white cloak, which she guessed was Summer and a young girl with black and red hair, silver eyes and a red cloak, which she guessed was Ruby.

"I'm home." Shen yelled. "And she's with me." A lot of movement could be heard from up the stairs. A door opened to allow a woman and child into the banister area. They were the pair from the pictures.

"Shen." The woman said before leaping over the banister and landed in front of Shen before pulling him into a deep hug and kiss. The girl walked slowly down the stairs before stopping in front of Yang and staring at her, who stared back in amusement. This continued for a minute until the adults kiss broke apart. Turning Shen chuckled at Ruby's ineffective attempt at a piercing stare.

"Yang, this is my wife Summer and my daughter Ruby. Ruby, Summer, this is Yang." Shen said in an attempt to defuse the situation.

"Yang?" Asked Summer with a quirked eyebrow. "I thought her name was Naruto?"

"Lady Tsunade decided that it would be best to have her name changed. Her name is now Yang Xiao Long." Shen replied slightly nervous that he hadn't told his wife that important detail.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" She said with a scary look on her face as she looked at him.

'Crap, this can't get any worse.' Shen thought while looking in fear at his wife. Famous last thoughts, especially when Yang is in the vicinity.

"Oh don't worry I wasn't told until 5 minutes before I got on the airship." Yang said with an evil smirk and a mischievous glint in her eyes, adding wood to the fire.

"What!" Summer yelled, looking abit like Iruka's Demon Head no Jutsu. After that all that was heard were cries of pain as Summer... Punished her husband.

Turning slightly Yang looked back at Ruby who was still staring at her. "You know they say that if you hold a certain face long enough it gets stuck that way." Yang said in amusement. Before Ruby's stare turned into a frown.

"Why are you here?" Ruby asked rather rudely.

"Well, apparently Shen decided to adopt me... So I guess I'm your new sister... Or housemate... Or squatter... One of those three." Yang replied with humour, which apparently fell flat, judging by the look on Ruby's face. Yang nervously chuckled while rubbing the back of her neck as the sounds of Shen's punishment dwindled.

Turning to face Yang as if she hadn't just been beating a man to a pulp, Summer introduced herself. "Hi there I'm Summer Rose. I guess I'm your new mother. I'm sorry about the Dumbass over there..." She paused and sniffed the air a few times. "Is that whiskey I can smell?" She asked with a deadly glint in her eyes.

'This is worse than the time I knocked over Baa-chan's Sake.' Yang thought as she slowly nodded.

"Why?" Summer asked slowly, a presence appearing around her, causing Yang to start sweating.

'Screw it, this is worse than a homicidal Gaara. Sorry Shen...'"He gave it to me." Yang yelled while pointing towards the injured Shen. Who was quick to reply.

"You didn't have to drink it." He yelled back. 'If I'm going down I'm taking you with me.' He thought almost sadistically. Causing Summer to snap her head back around towards Shen while he spoke.

"She's escaping." Came the voice of Ruby, causing Summer to look towards an open window to see Yang outside it, running towards the forest. "He's escaping." Caused Summer to look towards the other window which Shen was half way out of. Abandoning all pretences of stealth he leapt out of the window sprinting in the same direction as Yang. Both quickly followed by an angry Huntress.

* * *

"Oww." Shen and Yang moaned in unison from the forest floor, both covered in bruises and cuts. Standing over them was a grinning Summer, holding her axe in her one hand.

"Now what have you learned?" Summer asked in a sickly sweet tone.

"To not give alcohol to minors." Shen answered.

"To learn to run faster." Yang answered, only to get hit again. "To learn to dodge better." She answered again, only to be hit on the head again. "Not to piss off women with axes?" This time a small crater was created from the hit.

"You don't know when to stop, do you?" Shen asked Yang innocently, only to receive a glare in response.

"Next time I'm tripping you." Yang declared while looking at him. Only to have Summer drive both their heads back into the ground.

"The lessons are. No giving alcohol to minors and Don't drink alcohol until you're of age." Summer said in a lecturers tone.

"Old enough to kill, old enough to get sloshed over memories of team-mates lost." Yang quoted. "That's what Shen said to me."

Summer stopped, looking down slightly in thought. That stopped when she suddenly started stomping on Shen repeatedly, while yelling. "Stop trying to teach her bad habits." Turning towards Yang her anger melted into melancholy. "Drinking is a bad habit, its a bad drink for mourning or reminiscing. Try to find something else." Suddenly her watch started beeping. "Ahh, dinners gonna burn." She yelled before disappearing in a cloud of dust.

Shen & Yang just looked at the spot she had just occupied, before they sweatdropped. 'How can she be so scary yet so... Silly.' Yang thought.

'That's my wife... Ow.' Shen thought while grimacing from pain.

Black smoke and a frustrated yell could be heard from the direction of the house. 'Oh god she's gonna be angry.' Yang and Shen thought as they pulled themselves up from the ground. 'Better hope I don't piss her off again tonight.'

* * *

Arriving at the house they were met by Ruby who had a smug little grin on her face. "Mums burnt the dinner, we get to go to a restaurant for dinner. But you have to be presentable, meaning you're not allowed to look like a pair of thugs coming out of a fight. So that means you need make up." She said while grinning evilly at Shen before looking in dismay at Yang's lack of injuries.

"I heal fast." Was all Yang had to say on the matter. 'Thank you fuzz butt.' Yang thought, hearing a grumble in her mind. 'Fuzz butt? Is that you?' Yang thought to herself.

'Shut up! I'm trying to sleep.' Came an annoyed growl from within her mind.

'Why can you talk to me?' Yang internally yelled.

'Don't know, don't care. I'm just going to ignore you now.' Came the terse reply from the fox.

'You can't just ignore me... Fox?.. Fox?..' Yang thought before hearing a loud snore from within her mind. 'Wake up... Wake up... You just can't ignore me... Wake up... Stupid Fox.' Yang grumbled in her mind. Only to look up and see Ruby and Shen staring at her causing her to rub the back of her neck with a nervous chuckle. "Why are you staring at me?"

"You got really angry for no reason." Ruby said while she stared at her. "Do you not like ice cream? Because that's what I was talking about." Ruby asked... Ah the mind of a naive child.

"Umm, no. I was just thinking of something completely different." Yang said while discreetly holding 9 fingers towards Shen, who nodded back in understanding.

"What were you thinking about?" Ruby asked curiously.

"It's been a long week kiddo." Yang said while chuckling. 'This girl sure changes moods quickly.'

* * *

They ended up going to a simple pizza restaurant, Ruby suppressing sniggers at the sight of Shen's highly bruised face. The meal consisted of various questions being thrown at Yang. Favourite colour? Orange... Duh. Favourite Food? Ramen... Its the food of the gods. Favourite weapon? Trusty ol' Kunai. Favourite method of fighting? Punch them in the face until they're unconscious. The last two questions surprisingly came from Ruby.

Now she was currently watching Ruby inhale plate after plate of chocolate chip cookies. 'Is this what I look like with Ramen?' Yang thought with a sweat drop, ignoring the fact that she had eaten 5 pizza's by herself.

Shen was currently crying while looking at his wallet and Summer was watching Yang very carefully, as if she would vanish at any moment. Which as a ninja was possible.

"So... Yang. What were your family like?" Summer asked, getting Ruby's attention.

"I never knew my parents... They died the day I was born, I don't even know their names. After that I tended to try to make families for myself. There was the old man, Hiruzen Sarutobi, he was like a grandfather to me, but he couldn't adopt me or see me as much as he would have liked. There was Konohamaru, he was the old mans grandson, he was like a younger brother to me. There were also the Ichiraku's, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, but they were too poor to afford another child. Other than that was... Sasuke... He died 8 days ago." Yang answered, successfully bringing the mood down.

"How did he die?" Came the question from Ruby.

"He made a bad decision that led to his death." Was Yang's quick reply, clearly wanting to end the conversation. Unfortunately, as Yang was learning, Ruby had no understanding of people.

"Yeah but, how did he die?" Ruby persisted.

"Look I don't want to talk about it!" Yang angrily replied, her eyes flashing red as she said it, causing Ruby to jump onto Summers lap in fright.

Immediately Yang realised what had happened, pulling back and taking a shuddering breath she looked at her hands forcibly calming herself down. Bowing her head with her eyes closed she spoke in an apologetic voice. "Sumimasen deshita. I should have better control over myself."

Once again the quick mood changes of a 10 year old took effect. "Why did your eyes turn red?" Ruby asked, peeking out from behind Summers cloak.

"Ruby, I think that's enough questions." Summer quickly said, Yang slumping at the mention of red eyes.

"But..." Ruby attempted to protest, but was quickly diverted by a plate of cookies being placed in front of her.

"Sumimasen." Yang once more repeated, bowing her head lower. "Sumimasen." 'What is happening to the seal? Why is it leaking enough for me to get red eyes from just anger? And why could I hear the fox? I'd better get Ero-Sennin's opinion.'

* * *

It had reached midnight by the time Yang was ready to move, she had been staring out the window at the moon... Well this countries moon, the Elemental Nations moon wasn't crumbling.

Ruby had gone to bed 3 hours ago, probably from a food coma. Shen and Summer were celebrating them being reunited. 'Thank Kami they finally stopped, I don't think I'll ever get the sounds of those springs out of my head.'

'I need to get a message to Ero-Sennin, but the summoning would probably wake people up' Yang thought. 'I should go into the woods, they won't hear me there.'

Course decided Yang flipped the latch on the window and pulled it open, before leaping out into the night. Unaware that she was being watched.

'Now where do you think you're going, Yang?' Summer thought before quickly grabbing her axe and jumping out after her. 'She doesn't know that the Grimm inhabit these woods.'

Getting deeper into the forest Summer watched as Yang came across a clearing. "This should be far enough 'ttbane." Yang declared before biting her finger and moving her hands through the seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." She yelled while she slammed her hand into the ground. A cloud of smoke appeared and from it came a strange toad. Thinking it was some form of Grimm Summer prepared to strike... At least until it spoke.

"Oi, where am I?" The toad said while looking around.

"Hi Gama-san, I summoned you here. I'm the toad summoner Uzumaki Naruto." Yang declared. "May I ask your name?"

"I'm Kosuke, a messenger toad. You must be the new summoner who pissed off Oyabun by calling him your subordinate." Kosuke said with a grin. "It was really funny to see him get drunk after that. Especially when Gamatsu and Gamakichi started praising you for giving them sweets." Kosuke finished causing Yang to giggle.

"So you're a messenger toad?" Yang asked, receiving a nod in reply. "Perfect. I need a message to be delivered to Ero-Sennin." A blank look appeared on the toads face. "The other Summoner." This time she received a nod in return. "I need you to tell him that I think there is something wrong with THE seal. Its leaking a lot more chakra than it did before, so I need him to come and check it out." She told the toad who saluted before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Came a voice from behind her, scaring Summer until she figured out that it was Shen. "When I was in Konoha for their Chunin exams I saw her summon one that was over 100 metres tall."

"What are they?" Summer asked in awe.

"They're the toad summons of Mount Myoboku. They're really picky about who summons them, I think her and her teacher are the only two toad summoners in existence at the moment." Shen replied while looking down at Yang in the clearing.

A growl was heard down in the clearing as 5 black beowolves entered the clearing. As Summer was about to jump down she was held back by Shen. "Just watch, this is something you need to see." He said before letting her go, leaving a hand on her shoulder.

Down in the clearing Yang was drawn out of her reverie by the sounds of growls entering the clearing. Looking up she saw that it was 5 creatures that looked like humanoid wolves, with black fur, bone-like spikes protruding from their skin, a bone like helmet covering their faces and red eyes

"Now, now. I don't want any trouble, I'll just leave now." Yang said while backing away, pulling a kunai from one of her pouches.

One of the creatures charged forwards lunging at her, only to receive a kunai straight through the neck as Yang dodged, making it collapse and begin emitting a slight smoke. Seeing this the 4 other creatures dashed forwards, lunging at Yang.

Yang's response was a jumping roundhouse kick hitting one in the face crushing its skull and sending it flying into the other three sending them to the ground where they were killed by four quick shuriken to their throats.

"What were those?" Yang asked out loud. "Probably those Grimm creatures Baa-chan mentioned." She said before collecting her blades and running back to the house.

Back in the tree's Summer was staring at the clearing in shock. "Wha..." Was the only sound to leave her mouth as she stared at the 5 evaporating Beowolves.

"This is perfect proof for what I was going to say." Shen said while looking down at the clearing. "Summer, you are a very motherly person and that is what Yang needs. But you have to remember that she has spent the last 8 years of her life on her own and 6 of those years she was trained for combat. She is already blooded, she has taken human life. So while she needs someone to act motherly towards her, you are going to have to remember that she is used to being alone and self sufficient. So you won't be needed as constantly as Ruby seems to demand." Shen said with a sigh. "What I'm trying to say is be there for her but don't push, or she shall push back and has enough experience to legitimately push back."

"But... But she's just a child." Summer said still in shock.

"A child who was raised to be a soldier just like, despite our best efforts to raise her normally, Ruby's being raised to be a Huntress." Shen said.

"But what happened with her anger at Ruby tonight?" Summer said while looking towards the house.

"She's in mourning and self loathing. You were the same after we had to kill... Her. I even have the scar on my chest from when I first mentioned her, nearly a week after the deed." Shen said with slight amusement towards the end. "Give her time, she's doing quite well with coping and Ruby appears to be completely fine from it, besides the initial fright."

"So be there for her, give her space and don't mention that boy, Sas.. Sas-uke?.. Sasuke?" Summer said, stumbling over the name.

"Sasuke, yes. How about you break the ice by asking for a spar tomorrow. In their culture, a ninja asking for a spar is similar to asking to go get coffee, or hang out and you know how much Ruby respects good fighters, so it should help with her." Shen said in a wise tone.

"How do you figure this all out?" Summer asked in a resigned tone.

"I'm an ambassador for a reason, honey." Shen replied dryly. "Now come on lets go back to bed."

"Yes... Lets continue with our celebration." Summer said with a perverted giggle.

* * *

Yang was woken up when a hand touched her shoulder, activating the instincts that the Crazy Snake Lady had drilled into her from the few C-ranks she did with her. So it was to Summers great shock that when she tried to shake her new daughter awake she suddenly had a knife to her throat. 'Battle instincts.' Summer thought. 'A behaviour that has been reinforced within her psyche, to be alert and ready for conflict at any moment.'

'Judging by the heavy breathing and the look of shock on her face, this must not happen often. Probably the fight last night causing her battle instincts to come to the fore, or she has had a restless night leaving her on edge. Probably the latter, judging by the rings under her eyes.' She analysed, her huntress mode coming to the fore.

The blade was quickly removed from her throat and stashed. "Sumimasen." Yang said quickly. "I just reacted, it might be best not to grab me when you wake me up." She explained while looking downwards. The mood of the room was lightened when the tip of Yang's sleeping cap fell in front of her face, causing her to try to blow it back up, only for it to fall back down. After this repeated several times the giggling started, followed by the laughter.

"Its fine, I probably shouldn't try to wake up a sleeping ninja." Summer said, mentally chastising herself. 'How could I forget that... She's a ninja, of course she wakes up quick with a knife at the ready.' "I was just coming up to tell you that breakfast will be in five minutes, we're having waffles." Summer said in an upbeat tone of voice. "C'mon or Ruby will have eaten them all." She finished, leaving the room.

Five minutes later a fully dressed Yang, to Summers dismay 'that was quick' sat down at the table. Sitting down at the table Summer and Shen were dismayed by how quickly the waffles were disappearing from the plate. Yang and Ruby seemed to be competing for most food. Well so far Yang had eaten 8 waffles and Ruby had eaten 6 and a whole bottle of syrup, Ruby liked sweet things.

During the feast Summer shot out her question. "So Yang. I heard that you're good at fighting, want to spar later?"

Slurping up the waffle that was hanging out of her mouth (How is it possible to slurp a waffle you ask? Ask Nora how she slurps a pancake in RWBY episode 4.) she answered. "Sure, weapons or no weapons?"

"Weapons are allowed, no potentially fatal attacks." Summer replied, growing worried by the size of the Yang's smile. "We can spar in about an hour."

* * *

Summer and Yang stood opposite each other in the open area in front of the house, staring at each other as Shen and Ruby watched. The silence was ended by Ruby yelling. "Start!"

At that word Yang rushed forwards, drawing and throwing two kunai at Summer which were quickly deflected by Summers axe. Jumping Yang threw a kick at Summers head only for it to be caught by Summer and then unceremoniously thrown into a tree, where she disappeared in a puff of smoke startling Summer, who had to step backwards to dodge the fist from the Yang who had burst from the ground in one large uppercut, only to disappear when she was hit in the chest by a kick.

Three kunai slammed into the ground near her feet, with a strange wicker ball attached to one of them. 'Wha...' was all Summer had time to think before the ball exploded in a flash of white light. Suddenly she felt pain in her stomach as Yang buried her foot into her stomach, grabbing the foot and rolling with the hit and throwing a punch, only for the Yang to explode into smoke.

When her vision cleared Summer was shocked by the number of clones within the clearing. "Lets get this over with, ne." They all said in unison before charging.

Grinning slightly Summer made her hand glow with aura before touching her axe making the tip glow. Swinging it caused a stream of energy to stream from the top, slicing through all the clones making them vanish in a puff of smoke.

Suddenly, 6 shuriken shot past her flying into the forest. "You need to work on your aim." Summer said, before feeling stupid after seeing the smirk on Yang's face. The sound of tightening wires filled the clearing, as Yang pulled her arms sharply backwards the shuriken came flying back around from the trees, covering the area in wire before tightening and tying Summer to a tree.

"I'm sorry? What was that about my aim?" Yang snarked back. Only to jump backwards when Summers axe started to glow again. This time the head was glowing, which caused it to gain a red sheen before, with her limited movement, she slammed it into the tree, causing it to explode into splinters.

"You are good." Summer said as she looked at Yang. "But not good enough." She finished before her axe glowed green which spread to her body.

The fight ended in that moment, as Summer seemed to blur before her fist slammed into Yang's stomach, causing her to fly back several feet before a foot restrained her and she felt the axe on her throat.

"I win." Summer declared, to the cheering of Ruby. Offering her hand to Yang she pulled her to her feet.

Pouting slightly Yang responded. "Yeah, but most of my stuff isn't for spars."

"What do you mean your stuff isn't for spars?" Ruby asked, voice laced with curiosity.

"I'll just show you, squirt." Yang said before summoning a Kage Bunshin, using it to create a rasengan. Looking at the trio's looks, Yang smirked before running forwards and slamming it into a tree with a "Rasengan", causing the trunk to explode, destroying the tree, before the integrity of the shell failed and destroyed several tree's behind it. Turning back around she could see the shock on Summers face, the awe on Ruby's face and recognition on Shen's face. 'Oh yeah, he saw the Valley of the End didn't he.' "So if I replaced the kick with a Rasengan, I would have won." Yang finished with a smirk.

"Maybe, maybe not." Summer replied in a smooth tone. "Guess, we'll have to find out next time."

* * *

Yang had been living with her new family for a week now, her and Summer had sparred every morning. On the second full day she was taken shopping for a full wardrobe. For the most part she stuck with her current outfit, much to Summers dismay. Turns out it was made from high quality materials and had wire mesh inside the clothing for defence.

Ruby was still flip-flopping in her opinion of Yang, sometimes she acted like Yang expected a little sister to act, sometimes she was worse than that Hanabi-gaki she had met.

She was currently sitting in the garden trying one of the chakra control exercises Neji gave her. She had to balance a senbon on her finger using only her chakra. Too much and the senbon would be launched off, too little and it would fall. The flow also had to be even too much on one side would cause the senbon to tilt and pitch in the other direction. Currently the senbon looked like an air dancer with how much it was waving, swaying and wobbling.

Summer had left for work, there were increased attacks near Forever Fall Forest and she had to go thin the numbers. Shen was reporting in about negotiations with Konoha and Ruby was behind her, great.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked while staring at Yang.

"I'm training." She simply replied correcting the senbon as it tilted to one side.

"Why?" Ruby asked with her head tilted to the side looking at the senbon.

"To get stronger, obviously." Yang replied while rolling her eyes. "You're 10 not 5 or are you trying to take my position of the houses idiot?" Yang said causing Ruby to blush.

"No, I mean why are you balancing needles and how is that training?" Ruby said with a pout.

"Its a control exercise, by learning to use my chakra to balance a needle I increase my ability to control fine amounts of it." Yang said in an uncharacteristic tone which suggested intelligence. Looking at Ruby's blank look she sighed. "You don't understand what I just said do you?"

"What's Catra?" Ruby asked.

"Its Chakra, not catra." Yang said while looking at Ruby. "Its an energy the body naturally produces. It is a mix of physical energy, created from the body's cells and spiritual energy, created from the mind." Looking upwards she smiled before turning back to Ruby. "Sit down in front of me." She ordered, surprised when Ruby did what she said.

"Now I want you to close your eyes and relax, breath in and out, in and out." She said while watching the girl. "In and out. In and out. Now feel everything in your body from your hair to your toes. Feel the warmth from the sun on your skin, the gentle breeze blowing through your hair and a subtle pulsing within your gut. Tell me when you feel it" Yang asked while looking at Ruby, not even noticing her senbon standing perfectly straight.

Ruby sat in silence for nearly an hour until she felt it, a low pulsing within her stomach, she grabbed it, keeping the feeling as she opened her eyes to find Yang balancing 5 senbon, one on each finger of her left hand. "I feel it." Ruby said, shocking Yang causing her to lose control the senbon all falling and stabbing into her leg.

"Oww!" Yang yelled before pulling the senbon out of her leg. "Shimata." She muttered before looking up at Ruby. "Well done Ruby, next time give a little cough or something." She said while rubbing her leg as it healed. "Now I want you to pull on it, move it so it is spread through out your body, from your finger tips to your toes. Like this." She said before a feeling of power entered the clearing, winds picking up and moving leaves around the floor, her eyes gained a sheen of power.

Dropping it she looked at Ruby before placing the senbon back on her fingers. "I'll tell you when to stop."

About an hour later the winds picked up around Ruby, stretching in a two foot wide circle around Ruby. "Alright stop now." Yang said, but Ruby seemed to ignore her. "Oi, cut the flow." She said a bit louder, still she was ignored. Reaching forwards she shook Ruby's shoulder causing her eyes to snap open. "That's enough Ruby." Yang said firmly. "Let it go."

The winds died down as Ruby released her chakra. "That felt amazing." Ruby said in excitement before she pitched forwards, crashing into Yang's arms. "Thank you." She said exhausted from the exertion.

"It's okay, in my class everyone but me crashed after the first unlock. It should be easier and take less energy to pull on from now on. Lets grab some lunch." Yang said before both their stomachs growled.

"Yeah, lets get lunch." Ruby said slightly abashed. 'Damn you stomach, stop embarrassing me.'

* * *

The week continued with Yang making Ruby decrease the time it took to pull on her chakra until it could be done at a moments notice. Yang had increased her chakra control exercises until she could fight her shadow clones while balancing 10 senbon needles. Now was the true test of her new control but first she had to help Ruby.

"Now Ruby, this is your first chakra control exercise." Yang said with a grin as she grabbed a leaf from a tree. "Leaf sticking." She said while putting it on her forehead, holding it there with her chakra. "This will increase your control and chakra capacity."

Ruby pouted at the lame exercise she was given. "Why can't you teach me one of those techniques you use? Like that clone or that spinning ball thing?" She asked in hope.

Yang shook her head. 'Do I sound like this when I want a technique?' She asked herself. "The clone needs too much chakra for you at the moment, you could probably make half a Kage Bunshin before collapsing from exhaustion and the Rasengan. I haven't even finished learning the Rasengan yet." She admitted sourly. The fight against Sasuke where she used the Rasengan one handed forced her to admit it needed to be better. "This exercise is the first step of chakra control, it lets you get a grasp on using chakra and increases your reserves. Once you can run 10 laps of the clearing with one leaf on your forehead, one on each cheek, one on your chin, one on each shoulder and one on each finger I will teach you your first technique."

"What technique is that Yang." Ruby asked with her head cocked to the side.

"The best technique in the world Ruby. Henge no Jutsu." Yang said with a massive smile. Seeing Ruby's confusion she smirked before performing the technique leaving Ruby looking at a duplicate of herself.

"Wha..." Ruby said as she looked at herself poking it before it dispelled. "What was that?"

"That was the Henge, the transformation technique. An E-rank technique that is taught to academy students." Yang said in a lecturers tone. "Now start sticking those leaves." Yang declared.

Ruby quickly grabbed a leaf, sitting down and placing a leaf on her forehead only to have it get blasted off her head. "Too much and the leaf is blasted off, too little and it won't stick." Yang said with a grin. Ruby grabbed a new leaf before getting back to her task.

'Now, I need to try the Rasengan. First I need to focus chakra into my palm and rotate it, then add power and finally encase it in a chakra shell. Try to keep it stable.' Yang said to herself. The Rasengan began forming in her hand, spinning up to speed creating a whine. 'Abit more speed and power.' She thought. 'Nearly there.'

That's when it went wrong, the shell failed causing an explosion of chakra, tearing up her arm and sending her flying backwards, crashing into the floor of the clearing, 10 metres from where she stood.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled in alarm as she ran over to the downed girl. Her hand was mangled with cuts running down her entire forearm. Summer and Shen came running out of the house crowding around the downed girl. To their shock they could see the flesh writhing as it stitched itself back together and healed, all with an aura of putrid red energy seeping through, within the minute her arm was back to normal. Albeit covered in blood. "What happened Yang?" Ruby asked in a fear filled tone.

"I was trying to finish my Rasengan. The shell failed for some reason." Yang said.

"The shell wasn't concentrated enough, it needed more chakra." Came a deep familiar voice from across the clearing. Everyone turned their heads to see a man with long white hair and strange red marks on his cheeks leaning against a tree looking at them.

"Ero-Sennin." Yang yelled as she pushed herself up.

"Jiraiya-sama, we weren't expecting you for another fortnight." Shen said with a formal bow.

"The Gaki contacted me, something wrong with the seal. I decided to come here early." He said as he walked into the clearing.

"Who is he and why were we expecting him?" Summer said with a dangerous glint in her eyes as she looked at Shen.

"I'm glad you asked." Jiraiya said, cutting Summer off. Suddenly a puff of smoke engulfed Jiraiya. "In the North, South, East and West. A man whose presence can quiet a crying child with awe, the greatest of the legendary three. I am the handsome and Gallant Jiraiya, the Toad Sage." He said from the back of Gama, while doing a Kabuki dance.

"That's still lame Ero-Sennin." Yang said until she was cut off by a squeal of Ruby looking at Gama.

"Look at the giant toad. That's so cool." Ruby said with stars in her eyes as she ran over to the toad. "Hello Mr Toad, where did you come from?" She asked in a curious tone.

"One my name is Gama, its nice to meet you. Two, I come from Mount Myoboku." The toad said slightly disgruntled by how Jiraiya was using him.

"Hello Gama my names Ruby." Ruby began before she got into a conversation with the toad. Jiraiya could only look on in confusion as the toad was paid more attention than him.

Looking up he saw Yang looking at him with a grin while the red haired woman was 'punishing' Shen for not telling her about him. "Well this is an interesting family, eh Naruto." Jiraiya said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's Yang now." Yang said with a smile. "And yes they are interesting people Ero-Sennin. But at least they're not perverts like you." She said with a sigh before looking at her blood stained hand. "One minute Ero-Sennin I have to go clean my hand."

Turning around she walked back into the house leaving the group outside.

* * *

Walking out of the house nearly 10 minutes later she was greeted by the sight of Jiraiya and Summer talking as Ruby tried the leaf sticking exercise. Shen was lying on the ground covered in bruises after his punishment.

"That was a long time to clean your hand?" Jiraiya said as he sensed her leave the house.

"My skin healed around the glove, I needed to separate it from my hand to let it heal again." Yang said with a shrug. Ignoring the grimaces and shivers it inspired from the people in the clearing. "So anyway, are you going to check out the seal or what?" She asked slightly impatient.

"Sure sure." Jiraiya said dismissively. "But first, why didn't you use a Kage Bunshin to test the Rasengan?" He asked. "That way you wouldn't get hurt when it goes wrong."

"How would a Kage Bunshin help me learn it?" Yang asked in confusion.

"You mean you didn't know?" Jiraiya asked with a look of disbelief. "I thought it was how you got the Rasengan so quickly." A look lacking understanding appeared on Yang's face. "You get memories back from Kage Bunshin."

Yang gulped looking slightly dumbfounded, before she let out a fake chuckle. "I may not have read the entire entry." She said while rubbing the back of her neck before she suddenly gained a tick mark. "Tell me, does Kakashi-Sensei know this?" She asked in a deadly tone.

"Yep, everyone who is taught this technique is told that." Jiraiya replied in an excessively happy tone, causing Yang to grit her teeth.

"I'm going to punch Kaka-Sensei in the face when I next see him." Yang said through gritted teeth, to the amusement of Jiraiya. Quickly she made 100 clones to the amazement of everyone there. "50 on the left do chakra control, 50 on the right work on the Rasengan." She barked in her annoyance before turning to Jiraiya. "Lets just get this over with."

Letting out a hearty belly laugh he stood up before walking towards her. "Lets go inside for this, the wind could interfere with anything I need to do." He said before leading her by the shoulder into the house, followed by Summer and Shen, with Ruby staying outside with the clones.

They went into the living room with Yang quickly taking a seat. "Now channel chakra to the seal and tell me why you think something's wrong." He said as he knelt down in front of her.

Revealing the seal she began. "The chakra is coming much easier, I was slightly pissed off and it caused me to gain red eyes. My healing has shot through the roof, you saw with the Rasengan failure, I also heard him speak to me." She admitted with her head down.

Jiraiya's eyes widened before he put his hand on her shoulder. "What did he say to you." He asked forcibly in his worry.

"His words were and I quote. 'Shut up, I'm trying to sleep.'" Yang said simply causing Jiraiya to face fault. Painfully pulling himself up he looked at the seal again while grumbling.

After 10 minutes he finally looked up from the seal. "The seals fine, its a different seal to what I was told Minato used, it seems it was designed to steal and partition power away from the fox. The power you used was your own, as you get stronger more of the Kyuubi's power becomes your own. Roughly two tails are your own at this moment in time." He said as he as he stood up. "The fox can speak to you because the seal loosened slightly to allow more power to get partitioned."

"Wait does that mean I can use two tails of power?" Yang asked in shock.

"I'd say you can use one tail safely, the emotions two tails force upon you would make you lose control. We can work on that later." He said as he sat back. "So how are things going with you Gaki. New family and all that."

"Its... Nice." She said fumbling with her skirt for a while. "I'm still getting used to it to be honest. Sometimes I expect to wake up to find myself in my old beat up apartment." Looking at the people in the room she smiled. "Summer, Shen & Ruby are great. Summer is really kind and gives me spars every morning, even if she reacts when she's angry in the same way Baa-chan reacts when I piss her off. Shen is really laid back and can keep up with banter and is usually right next to me when we piss off Summer. In other words lying on the ground in pain clutching our heads." She said with a smile.

'Sounds similar to Minato and Kushina. What are the odds?' Jiraiya thought with a grin.

"Ruby on the other hand is sometimes an adorable little sister other times she's a brat." Yang said with a small smile on her face.

"You know she's smitten with you, don't you." Shen said with a grin. "You and Summer are all she talks about, by teaching her chakra you have inserted yourself into her life quite quickly. She thinks the world of you."

Jiraiya smiled upon watching the continuing interactions. This was a good decision. "Now, I think I promised you training..."

-Chapter End-


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note - Hi all, Raisuke here. Not much to say but I hope you enjoy the chapter and any criticism that is left is constructive.

Disclaimer - I do not own RWBY or Naruto. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively, please support the official releases

-Chapter 3 Start-

Six months and one week had passed since Yang had been adopted by Shen and Summer. She was now 13 and Ero-Sennin was currently visiting. She was in the two tailed state while sparring him.

Jiraiya dodged backwards as a pair of chakra hands burst from the ground only to Kawarimi to escape a trio of shuriken. Jumping out of the woods he launched several kicks at Yang before preventing her counter attack by grabbing her foot and slamming her into a tree. She quickly righted herself with a snarl before recklessly launching herself at Jiraiya, only to be slammed into the ground with a foot on her throat. "Keep your cool." He said as he looked at her. "Don't give into the rage the cloak inspires."

Suddenly the ground underneath him exploded as a chakra hand wielding a purple Rasengan burst forth causing him to jump out of the range of the Jutsu, at least that's what he believed. Thrusting towards him the hand opened, letting the Rasengan fly forwards striking him causing a large explosion.

The dust cleared to show Jiraiya standing in place, missing the majority of the left side of his body. Suddenly the Jiraiya seemingly melted turning into a pile of mud. Clapping could be heard from the side of the clearing. Clapping coming from an unharmed Jiraiya. "Well done Yang, you managed to destroy me at 20%" He said with a smile before getting a serious look on his face. "Now how did you throw the Rasengan?" He asked.

"I made the shell out of Yokai, its stronger and denser than my Chakra, when used as the shell the Rasengan will last about a minute after I stop supplying it before failing. I only need it to last half a minute at most." She explained while massaging her throat.

"So that's why it was purple." He muttered. "You need to work on your emotional control as well. You began to lose it towards the end."

"Sorry Ero-Sennin. I had the cloak up for a half hour at that point. The cloak was attempting to pull on a third tail, I held it back but ended up letting some of the rage through." She explained with her head down.

"Well, half an hour was pushing it. We'll move onto three tails next time I'm here." He acquiesced. "You did well without your Kage Bunshin. I think you could defeat a Mid Chunin level opponent with minor difficulty." Stopping to think for a minute he sighed. "I'm going to have to leave again. I have heard rumors of a civil war in Iwa, nothing major but we need to know about it. I want you to work on your chakra control abit more. You'll need it for what I want to do." He explained.

"See you in a month Ero-Sennin." Yang said with a nod.

"See ya, Gaki." He said before disappearing in a plume of smoke.

-LINE-BREAK-

Ruby was running around the clearing as various Yang clones threw rubber balls for her to dodge when it happened. One of the rubber balls was going to strike her in the eye, it was too fast to predict, it was going to hit her in the eye and blind her.

Now we all know it wouldn't blind her, but she in her mere decade of life does not. The belief that she is in danger and will have a life altering injury is a very emotionally distressing concept and this distress is what is important. Not the fact, but the belief that her eye is in danger.

Suddenly the world sharpened in her view, the world was moving slower. The ball while still fast, was in her sight, she could see where it was going to be. Quickly she threw her head backwards, the ball just skimming her nose, before she toppled backwards and landed on her butt.

'What just happened? Why did the ball slow down?' Ruby thought in shock as she looked down at her hands. Her hands appeared to be engulfed in what looked like a tiny layer of silvery blue flames. 'What is this?'

"Hey sis, you okay?" Said one of the Yang's as she moved over to Ruby. She paid no heed, instead just looking at the 'flames.' Squatting down in front of Ruby the Yang put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Sis, what's up?"

Ruby raised her head to look at Yang who appeared to have a big aura of blue, flecked with yellow and a hint of red flames. Upon seeing her eyes Yang's eyes widened before she too fell into a seating position.

Yang only uttered one word before she dispelled. "Sharingan."

-LINE-BREAK-

Everyone was sat in the living room in silence as they waited for the first person to break the silence. Fortunately Summer, who knew nothing of why they were called together was all too willing to break it. "What's going on? Why did you ask for a family meeting?" Summer asked with slight worry.

Yang was the first to speak up. "I need to know about Ruby's birth parents." She said with a frown on her face.

Blinking at the unexpected question Summer quickly answered. "Her mother died in childbirth and her father was an unknown, she lived in an orphanage until I adopted her. Why did you want to know?"

"Ruby, channel chakra to your eyes." Yang said softly as she turned towards her. Ruby nodded, slightly confused as the world once more seemed to slow down and the 'fire' surrounded Yang.

Summer let out a gasp as she looked at Ruby and Shen let out an audible gulp. "Why is everyone looking at me weirdly?" Ruby asked confused only to have Yang pass her a small mirror. Her eyes had changed, the iris's of her eyes were now red with what looked like one little black number 9 in each eye. "What is this?" She asked while looking at her new eyes in shock.

"That is the Sharingan. It is a Kekkei Genkai, a Dojutsu, limited to the Uchiha clan from Konoha." Yang answered. "It is known as the most powerful bloodline in the world."

"Are you saying I'm from Konoha?" Ruby said in shock as she looked at Yang.

"At the very least one of your birth parents, most likely your father was." Yang replied while looking at Ruby.

"Does these mean I have living family?" Ruby asked while looking Yang dead in the eyes, only to see sorrow.

"Five years ago Uchiha Itachi, the genius child of the clan, massacred the entire clan except his brother Sasuke. Every man, woman and child. In a single night he killed one thousand members of his own family." Yang said to the shock of everyone in the room.

"What about that one you mentioned, Sasuke was it?" Ruby asked with hope.

"Uchiha Sasuke died but 6 months ago." She said, tears began rolling down her cheeks. "He was a member of my team and someone I considered my brother. His mind was warped by Uchiha Itachi, who used a technique to force Sasuke to watch the massacre over and over again, it drove him insane."

"When he was offered power by a man called Orochimaru, he betrayed the village. I was on a team that was given the orders to try and retrieve him, or to kill him if he left of his own free will, refused to return and retrieving him would endanger our lives." Yang said, almost breaking Ruby's heart. "I was the only one left at the end to face him and I caught up at a place called the Valley of the End. We fought, I fought to subdue, he fought to kill. We fought for nearly half an hour, gradually escalating until Sasuke ramped it up, he poured everything into one attack with the intent to kill me, I created one of my Rasengans with Yokai. We clashed one last time, that was the only instant I fought with the intent to kill. Needless to say, I survived, Sasuke died."

"Y-you killed him... You killed someone you loved like a brother. Why?" Ruby asked with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Why did you kill him?"

"Sometimes you have to kill that which you love to save them from themselves. It is the hardest thing you can ever do, something that will stick with you until the day you die. Haunting you, no matter how much time passes." Summer said in an uncharacteristically dead tone. "It is a sad fact of life, that has happened many times in the past and will happen many times in the future."

"Mum?" Ruby asked in quiet shock. It all was too much for Ruby to handle... So she ran from the room.

-LINE-BREAK-

Ruby... She didn't talk much after that. It's understandable, two people which she had almost hero worship for told her about how harsh the world is.

It had been almost a week since that conversation, it was hurting everyone to see the usually upbeat child look so depressed. Even Summer struggled to get much out of her.

The family, minus Ruby, were sitting at the kitchen table trying to decide what to do. "What are we going to do about Ruby?" Yang asked with a grumbled sigh. "She barely talks anymore, she only eats a normal portion of food, which isn't enough for a chakra user." Chakra, as the bodies life force, was directly tied to various bodily functions, the metabolism being one of them. As such, the more chakra you had the more you needed to eat.

"She won't even talk to me, my little gem won't even speak to me." Summer said with her head on the table, tears streaming down her face.

"She ignores me when we're training, only speaking when it's to tell my clones what to do." Yang muttered while looking down into her drink. "What should we do?"

"Bribery didn't work. Pleading didn't work." Summer said. "Offering to help her train didn't work."

"What should we do?" Yang and Summer said in unison, leaning into each other. Their pity party was cut off by Shen clearing his throat.

"Summer, I think we should call in reinforcements." He said to Yang's confusion. "Signal just let out for the holidays."

"You mean we should get his help?" Summer asked while looking at Shen.

"He should be perfect to help Ruby and I think he will want to meet Yang." Shen answered before taking a sip of his tea.

"Who are you talking about?" Yang asked in confusion while looking between the pair. "How can he help Ruby?"

Looking at each other they nodded before Shen turned towards Yang. "I think it's high time you meet our old team mate... Qrow."

-LINE-BREAK-

Qrow was a tall, lanky man with black shoulder length hair and black eyes, he wore a white jacket over a red shirt and black trousers, on his back was a black box.

He was currently staring at Yang after they met in the hall. They had been staring at each other, without blinking, for nearly 5 minutes. This was broken by Yang finally blinking. "Ha I win." Qrow almost shouted while pumping his fist in the air.

"W-what?" Yang asked in confusion.

"I won the staring contest." He replied with a childish grin on his face. "I won."

Blinking several times incredulously she stared at him for a full minute before gaining a grin. "You may have won the battle but I will win the war." She declared while pointing at him.

"Challenge accepted." He said with a smirk before turning towards Shen and Summer. "So Winter, Shenster. What d'ya need me for?" He asked with a shit eating grin. "After all I think it was for more than to just meet Blondie here."

"It's Ruby, she's been depressed for an entire week, she won't talk and isn't eating enough." Shen said, tapping his cane on the floor as he said it.

"What's made Rube upset? It must have been big to get to her." He said as he pulled some gum out of his pocket to chew.

"She found out who her biological family was, before finding out the fact they were all dead and the only one alive was the one who annihilated them. The only other one died nearly seven months ago and was killed by Yang herself after he tried to kill her." Shen said with a slight frown. "She's struggling after learning about the true nature of the world. We were hoping that you would be able to help her."

A loud pop echoed in the room as the bubble he was blowing popped. "Kay." He said as he chewed. "Where is she?" He asked.

"Upstairs in her room, she doesn't leave except to train, eat and go to the bathroom." Summer said while looking down. "Please try and get her down here. I fear for her mental state."

"Kay." He said as he began walking up the stairs out of sight of every one.

"He's weird." Yang declared before walking outside to train, Shen & Summer sharing a shake of the head before moving off to do other things.

"Yes but we wouldn't trade him for the world."

-LINE-BREAK-

Qrow stood outside the red door looking at the sign on the outside reading 'Go Away.' Smirking at that he reached forwards twisting the door handle only to find it locked.

'Now a normal person would ask to be let in... Where's the fun in that?' Qrow thought with a smirk. 'Now the locks reinforced so I can't get through with a simple kick. I have to think for a moment... That's boring, let's use explosives.'

Pulling out a vial of red dust he poured some onto his hand before spitting on it and mixing it into a paste. He then proceeded to force some into the lock before pulling out a lighter. "Winter's gonna be pissed at me for this... Worth it." He mused before igniting the paste and ducking to the side of the door.

The explosion was loud, completely destroying the lock and causing the door to violently open. A short scream sounded from inside the room causing him to smirk. Plastering a shit eating grin on his face he poked his head around the door. "Heya Rube." He said, only to have to retract his head as at least a dozen pointy object flew through where his head had just been.

'That's new... Normally it's pillows.' He thought as he looked at the blades embedded in the wall. Poking his head back around the doorframe he grinned at the shocked girl that was sitting on the bed. "Well here I was coming to see my favourite niece, I didn't know you learned a new way of saying hello. It's dangerous and scary... I'm so proud." He said with a mock tear in his eye.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked in confusion as she looked at the man who had destroyed her door.

"The one and only." He said happily as he slid into the room, pushing the door closed, only to frown when it opened again. "Now that won't do." He said with a frown on his face as he pulled out a vial of blue dust. Pushing the door closed he threw some of the dust over the lock before hitting it with a glowing palm causing the door to freeze closed. "That's better." He chirped before strolling over to Ruby and sitting down.

Sitting down on the bed he looked around the room. The walls were white and covered in posters, ranging from promotional posters from the hunters to a simple poster of the scatter symbol. There were knives embedded in one wall and a lot of crude drawings littering the desk and the floor. Her four poster bed was adorned by stylised cartoon Beowulf curtains.

Turning back to Ruby he smiled as he saw her bury her face in her knees. "So I was told you're refusing to speak to people... What's that about, I tuned Shen out when he told me." Qrow admitted with a sheepish grin on his face.

"I finally found out who my birth family was and then find out they're all dead. I find out that Yang killed the last one and that Mum & Dad killed their team-mate. I unlocked new powers and... and I don't know how to deal with it." Ruby said, her words tumbling out. "I don't know what to think Uncle Qrow, I just don't know."

Qrow just stared at Ruby for a while making her feel uncomfortable before breaking the silence. "Y'know I was there when she was killed. All three of us fought her, we tried so many times to get her to surrender. In the end we weren't strong enough to take her alive and we had to make the only choice left. It was hard... Extremely hard, but sometimes you have to save people from themselves." Qrow said seriously before suddenly becoming whimsical. "For coping all of us have different methods, Winter tries to mother people, Shen pushes peoples buttons, some people smoke, some people drink and some people read exorbitant amounts of porn."

MEANWHILE

A certain mask wearing nin sneezed violently while sparring with Tenzo allowing him to land a hit... A low hit.

He sang soprano for a week afterwards.

BACK WITH QROW

"What about you Uncle?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Me? I am an insanely happy bastard who tries to cram as much fun into my life as I can, damn the consequences." Qrow answered with a shit eating grin. "With the Yang thing, she obviously had a reason, a damned good one at that if what I heard about her is true."

"Yeah... He was trying to kill her..." Ruby said before groaning at how stupid she sounded. "I'm being an idiot, aren't I?"

"Yes." Qrow answered bluntly. "Now stop it, it's my job." He whined.

Shaking her head at his antics she stood up and began moving towards the door. "Lets go downstairs, I need to apologise." She said as she reached the door... It was still frozen shut... "Umm, a little help?"

-LINE-BREAK-

It was 2pm and Yang and Qrow were standing opposite each other in the usual clearing. They were staring intently at each other... Well Yang was, Qrow was pulling faces. Shen stood off to the side with Summer next to him and Ruby was sitting up in one of the tree's.

This had started after Ruby's apology... Reconciliation... Thing. Yang asked Summer for a spar only for it to somehow be commandeered by Qrow. So here they were facing off against each other waiting for the signal to start, which was accidentally provided by Ruby dropping the kunai she was fiddling with.

As the kunai struck the ground Yang burst into action throwing a brace of shuriken at Qrow before running towards him. He danced around the stars, humming a tune the entire time.

Leaning back slightly he dodged the punch from Yang before grabbing her wrist and pulling her in like they were dancing a waltz before spinning her around and throwing her towards a tree.

Flipping in mid air she landed on the tree trunk, defying gravity by standing up on it to look at her smirking foe. She scrutinized his lazy stance but came up short on how to breach it. 'He didn't waste a single movement during that clash and I can't see a single hole in his stance?' She thought to herself. 'Lets see how he handles some wind.'

Performing some hand signs she prepared one of the techniques off the scroll from Danzo. She launched forwards taking a deep breath before launching a punch at Qrow which was once more caught. "Fūton: Shinkūgyoku." She declared before breathing harshly out causing a number of nearly invisible wind bullets to fly out of her mouth striking him at point blank range. Or, at least, that's what should have happened.

The moment before she let out her breath she was once more spun around until her back was against Qrow's chest, like he was hugging her from behind. The wind bullets slammed into the edge of the clearing, destroying several trees.

"Whew it's windy today, if I wasn't careful I might have been blown away." Qrow said in a tone that could have easily been interpreted as him being serious.

"I'll show you wind." Yang declared before breathing in and facing the ground. "Fūton: Daitoppa." She yelled, blasting the ground with wind causing her and Qrow to be launched into the air, his grip on her loosening due to having the wind knocked out of him.

"Fūton: Kawa." She said before releasing a stream of wind to break free of his grip and to propel her higher. Qrow smiled as he softly landed on his feet, looking up at her.

"You know I haven't thrown a single attack yet you haven't hit me once." He said to rile her up.

"I'll show you!" She yelled before throwing several kunai towards him, before clapping her hands together. "Fūton: Reppūshō."

'What is she doing?' Qrow wondered, getting his answer when she clapped a burst of wind shot forth speeding up the kunai while buffeting him. As the weapons neared he gained a smirk before his aura activated and a red rune appeared underneath his feet launching him upwards above the weapons.

Snarling Yang threw one last kunai at Qrow which was quickly caught. "I'm sorry but this is slightly pathetic, there's no strategy and all you've been doing is throwing knives and making the wind blow." He said with a smirk. "I heard great stories about you fighting from Winter of your unpredictable strategies. But you haven't done any thing to make me surprised." Yang's snarl turned into a grin.

*Hiss*

Turning his head slightly he looked at the kunai to spot a smoking tag on the end of it. Eyes widening he threw it away only for it to detonate less than a metre from him, engulfing him in smoke.

Meanwhile with Ruby.

All three had wide eyes at the performance, Yang had never used a wind technique in any spar. But then again they hadn't sparred in a week due to worrying about Ruby and Yang had been sneaking out at night to do stuff.

The exploding tag was new as well she usually only used flash bombs. What was amazing was how she used Qrow's preconceptions against him. She tricked him with several flashy techniques to hide the actual attacks.

"Did she win?" Ruby asked as she looked at the smoke cloud lingering in the air. "Because Uncle Qrow didn't even draw his weapon, I want to see it."

"This fight is far from over Ruby. If anything it's just begun." Shen said while looking over at the battle area.

Back at the battle

"Now that won't do, that just won't do." Came Qrow's voice from within the smoke. "This was one of my favourite jackets, ruined." He said as the smoke dissipated, revealing Qrow standing there unharmed missing one sleeve on his white jacket.

"Shouldn't have worn it to a fight then." Yang said to him as he looked at the missing sleeve. "Besides if you were to destroy the other sleeve it would look cool again."

"But it wouldn't be the same." He said with a huff before removing it. "I'm going to beat you into the ground now, I hope you know that." He declared before pulling the box from its resting place.

'How did he remove the jacket without removing the box?' Yang thought quizzically looking between the box and the jacket. This was a mistake as Qrow suddenly vanished, reappearing with a sparking hand slammed into her gut. A crack like a gunshot echoed through the clearing as Yang was launched backwards, slamming into a tree causing it to gain cracks through out it's surface.

Falling to the ground Yang lifted her head only to have a round kick slam into her jaw sending her rocketing across the clearing. The spectators were wincing at the beat down that had begun. 'Oh Yang.' Summer thought in sympathy, as the girl was kicked in the back causing her to slam into the ground causing a crater.

Now Qrow was dominating the match even more than he was before so he was surprised when his opponent smirked as he performed another palm strike, only to wince as he felt a stabbing sensation in his hand. Leaping backwards he looked at his hand only to find it impaled upon a long slender needle.

Looking at his opponent who was just standing up he could see several more needles lying flat on her skin. "And that's how you use a chakra control exercise in a fight." She declared as he watched one of the needles move along her skin before sitting upright.

"Now lets get this started, ne?" She said, smirking even though she had blood dribbling from the side of her mouth. Bringing her hands up into a cross shape there were suddenly several bursts of smoke before he was facing half a dozen Yang's.

Blinking at the sight in front of him he turned his head several times taking in all the clones before lifting the arm with the box and slamming his hand down on it simultaneously forcing the needle out of his hand and transforming it.

The box unfolded creating a haft nearly 180 cm long, with a straight scythe blade, nearly a metre long coming off to the side, with a hammer like attachment acting as a counter weight. A set of hand grips were positioned about half way down the scythe with another two smaller ones at a quarter and three quarters of the way along the haft. Near the centre grips was an ammo clip protruding from the haft with a semi-auto firing mechanism and a scope built into the haft.

"This is my High Calibre Sniper Scythe called..." Qrow said at the shocked look on Yang's face, pausing to be more dramatic. "Bob."

This caused Yang and her clones to face fault, one of them hard enough to dispel itself. Springing up Yang immediately began yelling. "What the hell kind of name is Bob, weapons are supposed to have cool names like Kubikiribōchō and Samehada, not Bob."

Qrow just stared at her for several seconds before slowly replying. "Would you prefer Robert?"

Yang let out a frustrated yell at that before her and her clones charged forwards. Launching several kicks at him the clones were immediately destroyed by a swipe of the scythe which was directed downwards to destroy the clone that was bursting from underground for a sneak attack.

With a smirk Qrow began firing his scythe forcing him backwards, scythe dragging through the ground, causing several more hidden clones to burst into smoke. A final Yang appeared behind Qrow, attempting to kick him in the head only to be stopped by Qrow slamming his foot down on the haft of his weapon, sending it swinging upwards to allow the hammer part to impact with her face.

Flying backwards she rolled along the ground, quickly righting herself and standing up straight. "Fūton: Reppūshō." A quick clap caused Qrow, who was about to strike to spin in the opposite direction. Unfortunately before she could capitalise on it Qrow followed in his new spin to slam the hammer into Yang's face at twice the speed of his original swing. The hit was devastating, causing Yang to hit the ground in front of Summer, her vision swimming and her jaw broken. Attempting to force herself up she was stopped by a foot on her chest and a blade at her throat. "Now, now this match is over Yangy." Qrow said happily. The glare he received was piercing before a translucent red aura began building around her stomach, spreading through out her body. "Now now Yangy, I said the fight was over." Qrow said as his hand shot forward gripping her head. "This is... The End." He said as he once more pulsed his aura into her head, forcing her into unconsciousness.

-LINE-BREAK-

Yang shot up out of her bed, immediately shaking off her sleepiness. Her jaw was aching and she felt stiff all over, yet she could feel a strange power flowing beneath her skin, it felt like liquid flame running through her veins, bathing her in a pleasant and unaccustomed warmth.

Stumbling slightly she accidentally put her hand down on a kunai... Hard. But the blade didn't pierce her skin. "What the hell." She mumbled as she looked at her hand. Looking at the hand she was shocked when small golden flames appeared on her fingertips. Yelping slightly she began shaking her hand trying to put the flames out before realising that they weren't hurting her.

Looking at her flaming hand she calmed herself, using the exercises she was taught to control her emotions, the flames receded and vanished reigniting when she stopped the exercise. Sighing to herself she restarted the exercise before travelling to the living room where she could hear talking and laughing.

Making her way inside she saw that the clock read midnight and the people in the room were Summer, Shen & Qrow, Summer and Shen on the sofa and Qrow in one of the armchairs. Each of them with a drink in their hands, Shen a whiskey, Summer a glass of wine and Qrow... Was that a rainbow cocktail!

They all turned upon her entering the room with Shen nodding his head towards her and Summer gaining a slight worried look as she saw Yang's dishevelled appearance while Qrow just sipped his drink through his straw.

"Yang, are you okay?" Summer asked as the girl walked further into the room before sitting in the other arm chair.

"Sore... Really sore. Which for me is quite impressive." She commented as she leaned backwards. "I also had something weird happen to me." She said as she lifted her hand and allowed the flames to form.

"Blaze." Qrow said as he looked at her hand. "Your semblance is Blaze. You are fire, no fire can burn you and you can create flames from no where." Qrow said as he raised his hand, igniting it with white flames.

"Ano, what's a semblance?" Yang asked confused as the flames died down.

"A semblance is a personal manifestation of Aura, a personal ability if you will." Shen said as he began explaining. "Only those with strong aura ever awaken them. Semblances are never the same, different to every person, no two ever work exactly the same way because there is no such thing as two identical souls. This is because the power comes from Aura, the power of our souls."

"Semblances are instead sorted into categories, the closest fit possible because sometimes they span multiple. Yours falls under Blaze." Summer finished for him. "My semblance is Enhancement, I can enhance myself to move faster and hit harder, or enhance weapons to have a finer cutting edge or more blunt force. It helps keep me ahead but it makes me nowhere near as fast as someone with a Swift semblance or as strong as a Strength semblance."

"You said it's an Aura ability, but how did I unlock my aura, you said I couldn't unlock it before I went to Signal Academy." Yang asked confused.

"That's what I want to know, there are only two ways to unlock your Aura. One is the way they teach at the academies which is through hard work and physical conditioning followed by a lot of mental exercises and meditation to unlock your Aura." Summer said with a look of puzzlement. "The other way is to have someone else awaken your Aura by injecting their Aura into your head to force open the ability."

The people of the room were quiet until Shen spoke. "I think I know what happened." Seeing he had everyone's attention he continued. "As Summer said the second method involves injecting aura into the head. Now Qrow uses a form of Aura injection in his fighting style to damage his opponent to finish the fight, against Yang he injected some Aura into her head to activate the sleep centres of her brain to render her unconscious. I think he accidentally activated her aura when he performed the knockout blow."

Shen began feeling awkward because of everyone staring at him, the silence was broken by Qrow's quick, "Seems legit." before he went back to his fruity drink.

"Yang, can you please refrain from activating Ruby's Aura, we want her to learn it the hard way at Signal." Shen said as he sipped his drink. "The exercises help condition people towards the job so we want her to go through it instead of skipping it. With you at least we know you have both the mental and physical conditioning beforehand."

"Sure, she has enough to learn about chakra that she doesn't need aura yet." Yang replied looking at her hand, that was once more bathed in golden flames. 'I wonder what will happen if I add my wind element to it.' Yang wondered.

Shivers were felt around the world at this thought. Oh Dear God.

-LINE-BREAK-

3 months later.

Jiraiya didn't turn up for another two months giving Yang a lot of time to practice her semblance. He did send tasks through the toads for her to perform, such as adjustments to the rasengan such as increasing it's size or decreasing it for a more precise wound.

He also sent her instructions to learn the ancient language, all four alphabets. God did her Kage Bunshin hate her for assigning them that task. Apparently it was needed for what he would be giving her to learn while she was at Signal Academy next year.

Jiraiya had finally arrived the day before, the Iwa civil war had been bigger than he thought it would be but the Sandaime Tsuchikage held onto his hat. Which probably wasn't a good thing considering he started the third Shinobi war. So here they were in the middle of a fight, Yang vs. the Jiraiya clone at 20%.

They had been fighting for nearly 20 minutes before Yang pulled her trump card. Making several hand signs she took a deep breath bringing her right hand to her mouth. "Fūton: Daitoppa." She yelled.

Jiraiya smirked, 'Nice but you'll need to do more than throw a C-rank jutsu at me.' He thought as she moved to breathe out.

'I'll show you to underestimate me old man.' Yang thought before she ignited her hand with her Aura while she unleashed the technique. "Uzumaki Naruto Hijutsu: Taiyo no Gekido. (Uzumaki Naruto Hidden Technique: Sun's Wrath.)"

The wind from the Daitoppa caught the flames, carrying and amplifying them, engulfing the entire clearing and the surrounding forest in a golden firestorm. The flames burned brightly, even as Yang heard a cough from behind her. Turning around she found a singed Jiraiya who had been observing the fight from within one of the tree's.

"Well you killed my clone without using your cloak or shroud but that was only because I was caught off guard by that technique." He said, looking at the devastation. "What the hell was that anyway, you boosted a C-rank wind technique into an A-rank fire technique."

Rubbing the back of her head she grinned. "That was my semblance Blaze. It is a personal ability those who use aura can gain, each and every..."

"Yes, I know. I read the file on Vale... I helped compile a lot of it." Jiraiya said with a deadpan, before gaining a serious look. "So you gained a wind nature from your genetics and a fire nature from your soul... You're chakra is natured to boost your Aura, so a small amount of Aura and a small amount of chakra and you could burn anything faster than a hyperactive Uchiha." He mused.

"I'm also immune to fire and can create it from any part of my body, I'm currently trying to create a Hi no Yoroi but it drain's my Aura too much to create that much fire." Yang said with a pout, she had never suffered from a lack of power until now, she didn't have an Aura monster sealed inside her to boost her reserves so she was like everyone else.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." He said while ruffling her hair. "Now we are going to fix that disaster you call a Taijutsu style..."

-LINE-BREAK-

A week had passed since then, Jiraiya had left and they were actually only a week away from going back to Konoha for a month. Well Yang, Ruby and Shen were, Summer couldn't justify the month off to her bosses so she had to stay.

It was time for the Spring festival, it was a festival held in Vale to celebrate the spring and the birth of life. There were market stalls and games to be expected and food... A lot of food. It was set to be a great event... If only they could get Yang out of the house.

"I don't want to go." Yang said stubbornly as she looked at the trio in front of her. "I don't want to go."

"Why though?" Ruby asked with a whine. "It's the best part of the year, next to birthdays."

"I don't like festivals, too many people." Yang answered before whispering so low they almost missed it. "Too many drunks."

"But Yang the festival lasts until sundown, then we leave. Please, its a time for families and to have fun. Please, It's only for 5 hours a year." Summer pleaded to the girl, worried about what the last line implied. "You three are going to be away for a whole month. I want us to be together for this festival before you leave."

Yang was wavering and was quickly brought into line by Ruby using puppy dog eyes. "Gah." Yang yelled throwing her arms into the air at the sight of those eyes. "Fine I'll go." She muttered, crossing her arms as she said it, pouting as she did so.

"Just think of it this way, the first part of your mission included learning the culture. This is part of that culture." Shen said diplomatically.

"Fine, I already said I would go." She replied heatedly. "I'm not looking forward to this."

-LINE-BREAK-

The group were within Vale's high town, stalls lined the streets displaying toys, food and games Children were running every which way and that, screaming as they did so.

"C'mon I want some cakes."

"Slow down, I can't run that fast."

"I wanna play the ring toss."

"I wanna play the Hunter game."

"NORA!"

"Coming Ren."

Dozens of voices were sounding from all around them, flogging goods and generally having a good time. Well except Yang.

Yang was nervous, her eyes shifting from side to side, skirting around groups as much as she could. Her hand kept straying down towards her pouch which held several weapons.

'What happened to you, Yang?' Shen thought as he looked at the nervous girl. "Yang." He said getting her attention. "Why don't you take Ruby to play some games?" He suggested.

Ruby's face lit up at that before she grabbed the Lien from Shen's hand, grabbed Yang and began dragging her away. "We can go on the Marksman game and the Ring toss and the bowling and the..." Ruby's voice came in a quick fire manner as the duo disappeared into the crowd.

"I hope Ruby can make her loosen up about the festival." Shen said as the duo disappeared.

"Do you think we're good parents?" Summer asked.

"What ever this is, its from her childhood, before we even knew she existed. Since she came to us she has quietened down, stopped showing off as much and has used far less fake smiles than she did in Konoha." Shen said as he looked at his wife. "This is just a bump in the road. You're a great mother Summer, you just need to take the good with the bad."

"I hope you're right."

-LINE-BREAK-

"And then we can..." Ruby said having been talking quickly for the entire time she was dragging Yang.

"Ruby, please stop." Yang said in a slow, pained voice. Ruby had grabbed her by the headband she wore as a choker so she was in a fair amount of pain. "I can't breathe."

Gasping for air as her choker stopped choking her she tried to find Ruby only to see her at a coconut shy.

"Yang, come play this one. I want a Beowulf doll." Ruby said while looking at the life sized Beowulf plushie. "I need you to do it because I can't throw anything that isn't a blade."

"Fine Ruby, but we're going to work on your ability to throw random objects." Yang said as she went up to the stall getting in line. The line moved quickly, people always getting two of the three coconuts but never the third, even when the hit was a direct one it still wouldn't topple the coconut. By the time she arrived at the front of the line she had decided the game was rigged. 'Time to teach the cheater a lesson. "How many do I need to knock over to get the Beowulf?" She asked the man behind the counter.

"Yah need ta nok over 3 coconuts ta win da doll." The man replied with a heavy accent. "It's 2 and an 'alf Lien for 3 balls, 4 Lien for 6."

"Three balls please." Yang said handing over the money before receiving the three balls. Rearing her arm back she threw the first ball, striking the first coconut sending it toppling. This was repeated on the second, now all that was left was the third.

Rearing back she placed half of her full power into the throw before letting it fly. The ball flew forwards, colliding with the third coconut. The ball seemed to float in mid air as it attempted to knock over the coconut, the fruit attempting to keep upright.

Of course one had to give and with an almighty crack the wooden pole holding up the coconut split in twain, falling to the ground with an almighty thud. Ignoring the shocked looks from people around her Yang leapt over the stall picking up the fallen pole to reveal the coconut still attached. Flipping it over so the coconut was facing the ground, still not falling. "This game is rigged." Yang declared to the crowd, showing them the pole and the coconut.

Jumping onto the counter Yang grabbed a stuffed Beowulf, pulling it down and throwing it to Ruby. "C'mon Rubes, lets go do something else." She declared before leaving the shy owner to his fate. A pain filled scream filled the day as they walked away.

Yang smiled at the sound.

-LINE-BREAK-

They had been going around the festival, from stall to stall for four hours now. Ruby had toys and prizes covering her form, it was funny to see her trying to lug around two plushies that were bigger than her.

They were just about to go meet up with Summer and Shen when Yang saw a game set up, hidden by a tent. "Step right up, step right up for the chance to win 10000 Lien worth of Valkyrie refined dust. That's 10 full cases people. The rules are simple 10 knives, 10 seconds. Hit as many targets as you can and as close to the centre as you can. The winner will be announced during the closing ceremony. All ages welcome." The herald proclaimed. "Set up inside this tent are 10 separate targets, you will have 1 minute to check on where they are before the game begins. It is set up like this to keep it fair. Everyone can only go once. The entrance fee is 10 Lien. Have fun."

"Ruby, I'm going to give this a go." Yang said to the girl. "I'll only be a few minutes." She said as she ran to the tent to sign up.

"Well lookie here, we got a little miss to join the party. Come on now you big strapping lads, ya don't want the little lass to show you up do ya?" The herald called to the masses as Yang stepped up to sign.

Giving in her money she signed her name, age and address. Several thuds and some cursing were heard from within. The tent flap opened to reveal a tall man with orange hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a plate armour chest piece and had a large mace on his back. "This game is rigged." The man declared as he walked past the herald. "Come Cardin." The man said as he walked past a boy that was Yang's age that looked similar to the man.

"What a sore loser, come back next year buddy." The Herald heckled, the crowd chuckling at the man. "Well now it's time for the little miss to have a go, good luck."

Walking inside the tent she moved over to the man that beckoned her. "We have several designs of throwing knives to choose from, styles from all over the world, choose your 10 and then I'll let you have a look around the targets." The man said with a kind smile.

Looking over the table Yang was shocked by the number of styles, there were at least 20 different styles. But relief filled her when she spotted Konoha, standard issue Kunai in the corner. Picking up 10 she walked towards the man, who looked at her choice.

"Kunai, huh? Mixed with that choker I have to say you have a good chance ninja girl." He said to the shock of Yang. "I was an ex-hunter but was crippled by an Alpha Ursa. I did a few missions in the elemental nations to help with observing Konoha. Great place, a bit primitive but a great place regardless." He said, calming her shock. "Now you have a minute to check on all the targets. I'll call when it's time to throw."

Looking around the area she could spot 9 targets at various heights and inclines from the centre circle. 'Where's the tenth?' She thought in confusion as she looked around. Then she spotted it, it was lying on the ground hidden by a rock. You couldn't see it from the circle, even when she jumped she couldn't see it. 'I guess I'll have to use Sasuke's trick.' She thought before beginning to figure out how to perform the trick. 'The timing will have to be just right. It's a good thing I've been practicing those tricks Sasuke used to do.'

"Minutes up, your 10 seconds begin when I say Go." He waited a few seconds as she placed two of the knives on her arms and held them there with Chakra while placing 4 knives in each hand. "Go." He said quickly.

Yang sprung into action, leaping into the air with a twirl. Swinging her arms she released the 8 Kunai, 6 flying towards targets before she released the other two. The final two flew faster than the others colliding in mid air changing their paths.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. Ten thuds were heard as each knife struck true. Landing in a crouch she slowly stood up with a grin. 'I did it Sasuke.' She thought. 'I've caught up in throwing Kunai.'

Looking up she saw the man writing on a sheet of paper. "Well done kid. You'll find out if you've won at the speech." He said as he filled out the paper. "Now off you trot." With a big grin on her face Yang walked out of the tent to meet Ruby.

-LINE-BREAK-

The group had met up again, with Summer taking pity on Ruby and carrying the life sized dolls. They were standing in a huge crowd waiting to listen to the mayors speech.

"So did you two have fun?" Summer asked.

"Yep. I got so many prizes." Ruby chirped.

"I spent most of the time winning prizes for Ruby, but I did expose a few rigged games." Yang said as she took a sip of her drink.

"Does this change your mind on festivals?" Summer asked with a hope filled voice.

"Nope... They're usually like this, its after dark that they get bad and unfortunately most festivals are after dark affairs." Yang replied.

Whatever Summer was about to say was cut off by the whine of a microphone.

"Hello everyone, I am Mayor Zǐsè Kāihuā. We are gathered to celebrate Spring or more specifically the life that comes with it. Today you have played the games, eaten the food and generally had a good time, but as the sun dips below the horizon this day must come to an end." She said as she overlooked the crowd. "Now this festival was unfortunately marred by several people rigging the games but they have been dealt with. Now before we leave we have several announcements, the winners of the contest's."

"In the over 18's fist fighting contest the victory went down to points, the winner of the finals match between Rebecca Wilkes and Theodore Winchester is... Rebecca Wilkes by 3 points. You win a 2 seater Stallion convertible." She announced.

"In the under 18's fist fighting contest the final match was won by Katlin Cairn. She has won 2 backstage passes to the next Achieve Men concert."

"The rifle marksmanship contest boiled down to the greatest accuracy rating on the 1 mile target over 20 shots and with an accuracy rating of 90% the winner is Otto Lark. He has won a voucher for 5000 Lien at the Scarlatina Weapons Modification Store, Violet Arms."

"The pistol speed shooting ended with a bang, with only one person hitting all 15 targets, so to David Rouge you win an all expenses paid meal for 6 at Stephanie's Diamond. Vales only Platinum rated restaurant."

"Finally we get to the Knife throwing contest. Our grand prize, donated by Valkyrie Refineries, 10000 Lien's worth of assorted Dust. That's 10 full cases people, 10 full four layer cases." She said as excited muttering built in the crowd. "Now the contest was down to the wire. With three people successfully gaining 10 bull's-eyes in under 10 seconds. In third place, with ten bull's-eyes in 8.3 seconds is Professor Peter Port of Beacon academy. You win 6 months free membership to McGreggors Hunting Lodge." She paused to let the clapping subside. "In second place with 10 bulls eyes in 3.9 seconds is Tarrant Briggs, a Hunter Captain. You win the equivalent of 2500 Lien to spend at Armours and Shields. The original local blacksmith for, you guessed it. Armours and Shields."

"Finally the Grand Prize. In a shocking turn of events, winning by only a tenth of a second, despite her young age. The winner of our Grand Prize, with 10 bull's-eyes in 3.8 seconds is the 13 year old Yang Xiao Long. The prize shall be delivered to your home within 2 days, enjoy." The mayor declared to the audience.

Yang's jaw had dropped in shock at her winning the Grand Prize. "Ehh?" Yang was shocked at the victory, so were the rest of the family.

"That's all we have time for folks, the sun is just about to set and with that I declare this festival over." The mayor said before bowing and walking off the stage.

"G-grand prize?" Shen stuttered.

"10000 in dust?" Summer said having a breakdown over the amount won.

"3.8 seconds." Ruby said with stars in her eyes as she looked at Yang.

"I won?" Yang said confused. "Ehh."

-LINE-BREAK-

All was packed, the bags filled, the cases locked. The family was standing in the hall as they got ready to travel to the dock.

"Do you have all your clothes?" Summer asked as she fussed over the trio.

"Yes!" They all replied.

"Your weapons?"

"Yes!"

"Dust?"

"Yes!"

"Your undergar..."

"YES!" They all yelled in embarrassment.

"For the love of Kami, yes. We have everything." Yang said with a blush on her face.

"Ohh. I'm going to miss all of you, a whole month alone." Summer said as she crushed them in a hug. "I going to miss you all so much."

"Mom, stop. We're going to be late." Ruby said from where she was crushed.

"Honey, we will be late if we don't leave now." Shen said from where he was being restrained. "It's only for a month, we'll be back before you know it."

It took the clock striking the hour to make Summer let go, which was quickly followed by a dash to the dock. By the time their stuff was dropped into the hold they were being rushed onboard, with a forlorn Summer standing at the bottom of the ramp.

"Bye Mom." Ruby yelled from the top of the ramp before she was pulled inside.

"Goodbye Summer, see you in a month." Shen said down to her before moving inside.

"See ya." Yang said with a peace sign. "Summer-Kaa-san." She said grinning at the woman before vanishing into the ship as the door closed, leaving one shocked woman as the ship began to fly off, With Summer only being able to say one thing.

"She called me mother."

-Chapter End-

Authors Note - A quick question for all of you. I decided to create my Qrow far different to how most people write him and how he seems to be in Canon... What do you think?


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note - Hi all, Raisuke here. Not much to say but I hope you enjoy the chapter and any criticism that is left is constructive.

Disclaimer - I do not own RWBY or Naruto. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively, please support the official releases

-Chapter 4 Start-

Tsunade was sat in her office, a bottle of Sake in one hand and her stamp in the other. She was stamping papers absentmindedly while swigging her Sake. Things had been too quiet for her the past year, no Naru to bug her at any hour of the day, no Jiraiya to attempt to peek on her. No Chunin Exam to attend because it was held in Iwa.

There was no excitement in this job anymore, Danzo wasn't even trying anything. He was instead preparing his Ne forces to be integrated into ANBU. Sighing loudly she finished the last of the paperwork, slumping backwards into her chair before draining the remains of her Sake.

'What is Danzo up to?' Tsunade wondered. 'Suddenly declaring his Ne forces, preparing them to become my forces. He's even taken the pressure off from his portion of the council. What is he doing?'

An incessant beeping cut off her thoughts, a quiet yet annoying beeping was permeating her office. "What the hell is that?" Tsunade yelled after several minutes, ripping drawers from their moorings and doors from cupboards as she searched for the cause of the beeping. The chairs and her desk had taken journeys out of the window and she was just beginning on the floorboards when she heard a cough from the corner.

"Tsunade-sama. Its the scroll from Vale." One of the hidden guards told her. "Over on the shelf behind you."

Turning her head almost mechanically she saw the black piece of machinery on the shelf with the yellow diamond flashing in sync with the beeping. "How the hell did I miss that?" She yelled before storming over and snatching it up. Pressing down on the diamond she opened the scroll before a voice came from within the scroll.

"Tsunade-sama, this is Ambassador Xiao Long" The voice began.

"Hi Baa-chan." Came the voice of Naruto interrupting him.

"Yang don't interrupt Dads message." Came the voice of a young girl.

"We have just departed from Vale and should be arriving at roughly noon Konoha time. I look forward to the talks and I hope they can be as productive as our Winter talks. Ambassador Xiao Long out." Came Shen's voice from the device in her hands.

Turning her head towards the clock she saw it reading six A.M. 'I was here all night?' Tsunade thought in wonder before the message sunk in. 'They'll be here in six hours... Naruto will be back in six hours.'

"Shizune." Tsunade yelled, they had a homecoming to prepare for.

* * *

"Mendokuse." Shikamaru grumbled as his team was called into the Hokage's office at nine A.M. Looking around the room he could see Team Nine already in the room. "Why have we been called in so early? We aren't supposed to be doing missions today?" He asked Asuma.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Shikamaru." Asuma replied as he took a drag on his cigarette. "It was as much as surprise to me as it was to you."

"Where's Team Eight?" Ino asked as she looked over at Team Nine.

"They left for a mission yesterday." Asuma said while glancing around the room at the locations of the ANBU.

"And how would you know that Asuma-sensei?" Ino asked with a grin. "Did she tell you during your date?" She teased.

Coughing in embarrassment he quickly replied. "We're only friends." Whatever Ino was going to say was cut off by the door opening to admit Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura.

"Now, you are all probably wondering why I have called you here." Tsunade began without preamble. "I have several missions that need to be completed before noon and I want you to be the ones to do it."

Looking over the assembled crowd she spoke once more. "Today at noon the ambassador from Vale will be arriving with his daughters, we need the Ambassador housing cleaned from top to bottom and we need the landing zone to be created for their craft."

"Team 9 shall be cleaning the Ambassador Quarters and Team 10 shall be creating the landing zone." Shizune picked up and threw a scroll to each Jonin. "This needs to be finished by noon or you will have your pay docked." She said seriously. "Any questions?"

Looking from side to side Shikamaru sighed before stepping forwards. "Is the Vale Ambassador still Xiao Long-sama, Hokage-sama?" he asked before hearing Neji and Sakura quickly breathe inwards.

"Yes Shikamaru-san." Tsunade said with a smile. "She's coming home." Shikamaru, Sakura and Neji all gained smiles at those words. "Naruto's coming home."

* * *

"I'm so bored!" Yang yelled from where she was sprawled over several seats. They were 5 hours into the journey and unlike last time she wasn't drinking to kill time. The table was filled with holes from when she decided to play five finger fillet after Shen went to the toilet. Cards were scattered around the room after several games like Go Fish, Old Maid and Gin Rummy.

Ruby was napping in the corner, curled up in her cloak. Shen was sat opposite Yang, working on his scroll... or playing a game, you could never tell with Shen. He was incredibly mature and always the voice of reason and logic but he had this hidden childish side that came out when Yang was feeling mischievous. He seemed content to ignore her for now, if the small smile on his face was any indication.

'If he won't do anything then I'll make him.' Yang thought with a frown as she looked at the man before standing up and collecting random objects from around the room they were in. Looking at all the objects she gained an evil grin before looking over at Shen.

And as such, when Ruby woke up half an hour later it was to a humorous sight. A bemused Shen sitting in his seat with an ever growing pile of objects being balanced on the top of his head as Yang zipped around the compartment grabbing more objects to balance.

A giggle from Ruby broke Yang from her game, causing her to look towards the girl. "You're finally awake!" Yang yelled as she almost teleported over to Ruby. "I was so bored with only Pops for company." She said before tightly gripping the girl.

"So I noticed. I don't think Dad can fit anymore objects on his head." Ruby dryly replied. Pushing Ruby away Yang stood up and looked at the pile.

"Is that a challenge?" She said with a glint in her eyes.

"Maybe it is." Ruby said meeting her eyes. Yang was off like a shot, piling more and more objects and placing them on Shen's head before the Pièce de résistance of balancing Shen's cane vertically on top of the pile.

"You were saying Ruby." Yang smugly returned to Ruby's gobsmacked look. "Don't challenge me little sister because Yang Xiao Long never loses." She declared with a grin, until it was broken by a calm voice from Shen

"Except against Summer, Qrow and Jiraiya right." He said, puncturing her rapidly inflating ego. Causing Yang to collapse to the ground with mock tears streaming down her face. "Now get this stuff off my head, I need to go to the toilet."

A short muffled answer from the ground made him worry. "I don't wanna."

"Now Yang please, I need to get up now otherwise I may not be able to hold it." Shen said in a panicked tone of voice.

"Serves you right for ignoring me when I was bored." Came the muffled voice of Yang from the floor.

"Ruby?" Shen said in desperation only to see the girl snoring away in the corner over dramatically. "Help..."

Yang took mercy on Shen after five minutes allowing him to leave, after that was another quick game of five finger fillet before they were preparing to land at Konoha.

* * *

The airship landed smoothly at the makeshift landing zone built in one of the many clearings just outside of the Konoha main wall. The attending Shinobi were buffeted by the winds from the Bullhead VTOL engines.

The airship was gleaming, resplendent in chrome and black. This was an airship built to impress, it had the symbol of the Vale Hunters emblazoned on the side and several manned turrets, just to make a point.

With a hiss the door on the side opened before a ramp descended to the ground with the first person down the ramp being the ambassador. Striding down the ramp with confidence, holding his sleek black, rose adorned cane within his right hand.

He was followed by two girls one wearing a black dress with red trim and a red oversized cloak covering her back. The other was a familiar face to the Shinobi present, wearing the same outfit she left in, to Tsunade's dismay, with a forehead protector worn as a choker signifying her status as a Shinobi of Konohagakure, was Uzumaki Naruto. They were followed by several unimportant people, the diplomats and administrators for the consulate.

This arrival looked very impressive but was quickly ruined when the oversized cloak acted like Konohamaru's oversized scarf, causing Ruby to tumble down the ramp, landing at the bottom in a heap.

"You can jump from tree to tree, spar and run laps in that thing, yet a ramp defeats you." Yang said in dismay at the groaning heap at the bottom of the ramp. "God you're nearly as bad as Kono-chan and his scarf." She giggled at the girl.

"Its not funny." A muffled voice yelled from within the cloak causing Yang to laugh even harder. Pulling her head from out of the cloth Ruby glared at the blond. "Yaaaang, stop laughing at me." Ruby whined from the ground. This only caused her to laugh harder.

"And there goes our dramatic entrance." Shen said with a sigh as he looked at the Shinobi who were suppressing laughs.

"We don't care." The two girls deadpanned in unison as Ruby stood up and Yang walked to the bottom of the ramp.

Sighing Shen looked apologetic towards the smiling Tsunade. "Hello Tsunade-sama." He began before he was cut off.

"Hi Baa-chan, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Asuma-sensei, Neji, Tenten, Gejimayu, Gekimayu-sensei, Shizune, Sakura-chan." Yang said, once more cutting off Shen. "Where's Kaka-sensei? Is he late again?"

"Yang do you really have to interrupt me every time." Shen asked as he looked at Yang before remembering who he was talking to. "Of course you do, you're you." he said, sighing once more. "This is already going badly." He muttered.

Chuckling lightly Tsunade smirked at Shen. "Don't worry, I won't hold Naruto caused problems against you." Looking over at the group she sighed herself. "She already ruined my welcome plans. Lets go to my office to talk, Naruto and... Ruby was it?" She asked, receiving a nod from the girl in question. "Should go with Team Nine and Team Ten and catch up, Sakura you too. Have Naruto and Ruby at the ambassadors quarters by half past six." She said before putting her hand on Shen's shoulder. "Everyone else... Dismissed." She ordered as she shunshined away with him, followed by every other adult ninja, leaving the clearing with only the Genin, one Chunin and Ruby.

"Sooo..." Yang said as she looked at the group. "Ichiraku Ramen?" She asked hopefully.

"We didn't expect anything less." Sakura said as she smiled at Naruto. "C'mon my treat."

"Yes." She yelled to everyone else's amusement. It was good to be back.

* * *

The ramen stand was incredibly crowded as the 9 people attempted to sit by the bar. They were shoulder to shoulder for the most part. Yang was sat in-between Ruby and Sakura, devouring ramen at an alarming rate, at the same speed as Choji. More than 15 bowls sat next to each of them as they ploughed through yet another bowl.

"Damn, Naruto. You sure can put Ramen away, at least Ruby-san doesn't have a bottomless pit like you." Sakura said with amusement.

Yang paused in her eating before motioning Ayame over and whispered in her ear, causing Ayame to giggle before walking into the back. "What was that about Naruto?" Sakura asked, wondering why she had a slightly smug grin on her face.

"Wait for it..." Was all she had to say before Ayame came from the back with a plate, piled high with cookies, before placing it in front of Ruby. Who immediately began demolishing the pile with a gusto. "You were saying." She said, smirking at everyone but Choji's shocked expressions. "So how's everyone been doing?" She asked as she ate her ramen at a much slower rate.

"Its been much quieter since you left." Sakura said sadly. "It just seems so much quieter... Despite Konohamaru's attempts at one upping your pranks." She said brightening up at the end. "On a plus side no one has had any misranked missions and there have been no invasions. I became Tsunade-shishou's apprentice."

"You're Baa-chans new apprentice." Yang said with slight amazement. "Cool, we're both being trained by Sanin."

"Naruto, you should show Tsunade-sama respect." Ino said, abit scandalized by the disrespect Yang was showing.

"Umm, calling her Baa-chan is me showing her respect. When I first met her I called her babaa." Naruto said causing several peoples mouths to drop open.

"Why would you call someone as great as Tsunade-sama a babaa. She's a great person, so many Kunoichi look up to her." Tenten asked in shock.

"She said the job of Hokage was only for fools and that both Jiji and the Yondaime were fools." Yang said with a shrug before thinking. "She was also a gambling addicted alcoholic who was so vain she hides her true appearance under a genjutsu." She finished bluntly before draining another bowl of broth.

"Tsunade-sama can't be that bad can she?" Tenten asked before looking at Sakura who suddenly found the counter incredibly interesting. "Right?"

"Tsunade-shishou is a great person but she is also a vain drunken gambler." Sakura said without looking away from the counter.

This caused Tenten and Ino's heads to impact with the counter, tears streaming down their faces. 'I guess this is why they say, don't meet your hero's.' They thought in unison.

Desperate to change the subject away from their Hokage's vices Neji spoke up.

"Naruto-san, I noticed that both Ruby-san and Xiao Long-sama called you Yang, could you explain that?" He asked, causing Tenten and Ino to raise their heads.

"Umm, when I was adopted my name was changed from Uzumaki Naruto to Xiao Long Yang. Yang is my new name." She replied before diving back into her ramen. That was slightly unexpected to most of the Genin but sometimes you need to become a new person in Shinobi life so it wasn't that surprising.

A companionable silence descended upon the stand, the only noises being Choji and Yang eating their ramen and Ruby munching on her cookies. The silence was broken by Lee.

"Yosh Naruto-chan, it has been a year since you last saw us, tell us, are your flames of youth bursting forth yet?" He asked with a yell, causing Ruby to gain wide eyes at the display.

'I should humour him.' Yang thought with a smile. 'Not a lot of people will even bother to listen to him speak.' "Something like that." Yang answered as she ignited her hand in golden flames. Letting the flames recede she looked at the shocked looks of all the rookies within the stand. The quickest to recover was actually Lee.

"Yosh Naruto-chan, your flames of youth are bursting forth, showing your strength and youthfulness." Lee said with his nice guy pose, causing Ruby to begin hyperventilating. "Yosh my rival, I challenge you, and if I can't defeat you I will run 200 laps of Konoha on my hands and if I can't do that I will climb the Hokages monument 50 times using only my teeth."

"Okay Lee, I challenge you to mumbly peg." Yang responded, causing everyone to blink but Ruby who sighed.

"Yang, you are way too obsessed with dangerous knife games, first five finger fillet, now mumbly peg." She said with a sigh. Yang just smiled at her before continuing.

"Its a game of daring, skill and nerve." She said with a flourish to her tone. "The game is we must each stand opposite each other with a Kunai." Like a shot the were just outside of Ichiraku Ramen standing opposite of each other, ten foot away. "Now we must both throw our Kunai into the ground and the person who hits closest to their own foot without hitting the foot wins." She finished with a grin as she fingered her Kunai.

Everyone was looking on now as the pair prepared their knives before launching them simultaneously. With two thunks the knives were buried in the ground Lee's kunai an inch away from his foot and Yang's half an inch from hers. Looking at the result Lee looked down trodden for just a moment before getting into a handstand and running off with a "Yosh."

"And that how you deal with that."

* * *

"So where's Team Eight?" Yang asked as the group walked towards training ground seven. It was just coming up on three o'clock and they had decided to have an all out spar in the training ground.

"They're off on a mission, they left yesterday, they should be back in a weeks time." Neji answered before being interrupted by Sakura.

"Kiba's probably going to ask you out, he's been making the rounds of the Kunoichi trying to ask all of us out." She said with distaste as she remembered his attempt to ask her out. Casanova he isn't.

Grunting Yang replied. "He'll get the same answer as he got last time."

"I believe the exact words were. 'Grow a pair of tits and then we'll talk about that.'" Neji said with a small grin causing several chuckles and Ruby to blush. They mainly inanely chatted after that until they reached the training grounds.

"Ruby, go sit in that tree and watch the spar, this will be good for you to see." Yang said before leaning closer and whispering. "Don't use your Sharingan, the only person we want to tell will be Baa-chan." With a quick nod Ruby ran off to the side before scrambling up a tree.

"So what are we going to?" Yang asked as she cracked her neck. 'Shikamaru & Choji and Neji & Tenten. They probably plan to work together to take out the largest threats before fighting between each other. Ino and Sakura look like they are teaming up but they would quickly turn on each other.' She thought as she looked around the field.

"We go until a blatant finish is achieved, someone forfeits or a person is rendered unconscious. Once you are out, you are out. No jutsu above B-rank and no aiming for vitals?" Neji asked as he inspected those around him. Receiving nods from around the clearing he pulled out a Kunai. "I will throw this kunai up in the air, when it lands the spar begins." He said before launching it upwards before getting into a combat ready stance, glancing at Tenten and receiving a nod in return. When the kunai landed the match began in a predictable way.

"Konoha Senpuu." Lee yelled as he threw a high kick towards Yang's head which she leaned out of the way of before collapsing towards the ground to dodge the low kick, landing on one hand before throwing a counter kick at Lee's ankle which he quickly back flipped over.

They were both forced to dodge when several kunai and shuriken slammed into the floor near them from Tenten. "Fūton: Kawa." Yang muttered before expelling wind from her mouth to deflect a few more bladed weapons and launch herself across the clearing towards Ino & Sakura.

They were not idle in this time as Ino made several hand signs before yelling. "Doton Shōheki." Creating a small half dome of earth before Sakura punched the dome sending chunks of earth around the clearing to pelt into the other fighters. Neji deflected the earth away from him and Tenten with his palms, while Choji used his Baika no Jutsu to absorb the damage.

"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku." Yang said after making a few hand signs blasting the earth out of the way of her flight. Putting her hand on the ground she twisted herself around to kick towards Ino's chest only for her to block by crossing her arms across her chest, only to be knocked off guard by Yang using Ino as a platform to launch towards a tree. This was the moment Sakura struck striking Ino under her guard sending her tumbling across the clearing. "What the hell Forehead." Ino yelled as she jumped up.

"This is a free for all Ino-buta." Sakura said with a smirk. "Put up or shut up." Ino looked furious at this before she suddenly smirked. "What's so funny Ino-buta?" Sakura asked before she noticed that she couldn't move. "What?"

"Kagemane no jutsu, success." Shikamaru said as he stood facing Sakura.

"Nikudan Sensha." Choji yelled as he began rolling towards Sakura, slamming into her and sending her flying across the clearing to slam into a smug Ino who squeaked in shock as the girl slammed into her.

Choji had his attack ended by a warhammer slamming into his side courtesy of Tenten's insane aim. He quickly recovered, readjusting his aim to run down Tenten before he was attacked from the side. "Hakke Kūshō." Neji said as he hit him in the side with a vacuum shell sending him crashing into a tree where he lay groaning at the bottom of a tree, pushing himself up.

Yang took advantage of this by slamming her heel into his head before pushing him against the tree with a kunai against his throat. "You're out Choji." Yang said with an amused smile.

"Damn." Choji said as he slumped slightly before beginning to hobble over to Ruby while unsealing a bag of chips. "Good luck Shika."

Suddenly pain emanated from Yang's cheek as Lee's foot slammed into her face sending her flying towards Neji who was in a Gentle Fist stance. "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō." He declared before beginning his attack. "One palm."

'Oh no you don't Neji.' Yang thought before a wicker ball appeared in her hand before detonating in a flash, blinding Neji before she slammed a leg into Neji's stomach, causing him to fold in on himself before he was launched across the clearing from Lee punching him in the face.

As Neji pulled himself up they were all reminded that Ino was still in the game as he suddenly stiffened and said in an unusually bubbly tone of voice. "I forfeit." Unfortunately for Ino, her body was left unattended so she was immediately disqualified when she returned to her own body by a kunai pressed against her throat from Sakura.

'3 down.' Yang thought as she looked around the battlefield, before having to dive to the side as a magnitude of weapons slammed into the area she had just inhabited. Turning to look at Tenten she just caught the view of her leaping into the air with two scrolls open on the ground. 'Oh crap.'

"Sōshōryū." She yelled before rapidly throwing just about every weapon in existence at the remaining fighters. Kunai, shuriken, axes, maces, katanas, warhammers, kusarigama, hammers and even a broadsword flew around the clearing, screaming towards their targets with an amazing degree of accuracy.

Sakura immediately used Doton Shōheki to hide behind and Shikamaru hid behind a tree that was nearby, leaving Lee to use his superior speed to dodge as many as he could.

Yang on the other hand began running towards her, summoning half a dozen Kage Bunshin as she ran, dodged around several batches of weapons before her clones all simultaneously clapped while yelling. "Fūton: Reppūshō."

A burst of wind blasted forwards from each clone taking out the weapons that had been thrown before the real Yang finished her string of hand seals. "Fūton: Daitoppa." She said as she exhaled, sending out a large blast of wind striking Tenten and separating her from her weapons scrolls.

Suddenly she was grabbed by the arms by two clones who proceeded to launch her across the clearing to land on Tenten's stomach, straddling her while pointing a kunai at her throat. "You're out." Yang once more singsonged as Tenten groaned before she had to duck to dodge the foot that was inhabiting the space her head had once inhabited.

She was slowly being pushed back by a speedy offensive from Lee, kicks and punches flew at high speed slamming into her, sending her tumbling.

The offensive was so fast and ferocious that she almost missed Sakura forfeiting after Shikamaru caught her in his Kage–Kubishibari no Jutsu.

'Two left, but the two left are the smartest and the physically strongest. But Lee can't activate the gates due to the rank restrictions. My best bet is to work with Shika, but will he do it or will it be too troublesome?' Yang thought before the decision was taken from her.

"Kagemane no jutsu. Success." Shikamaru said as he bound both Shinobi with his technique, standing up straight facing each other. "Give up now or I'll bash your heads together." He said with an amused smirk.

"Go ahead, I'll break out of this and defeat you." Yang shouted with passion as golden fire began to appear on her skin.

"To quit now, from such a small threat would only diminish my flames of youth." Lee yelled as a flame-like aura began to appear around him.

"This is so troublesome. Have it your way." Shikamaru said as he bowed sharply, causing Lee & Yang to mimic him, smashing their heads together. Straightening up he looked at the pair who had large marks on their foreheads. "Had enough?"

"No." They said simultaneously before their heads collided again.

"No."

Bang.

"No."

Bang.

"No."

Bang.

"No." This time only Yang yelled out. "Huh? Lee, don't tell me you're quitting." Yang said incredulously looking at the green clad boy, only to sweat drop at the glazed eyes she received back. "Lee has been rendered unconscious, he is disqualified." Yang declared in a professional voice before Neji & Tenten jumped down to retrieve him.

"So its down to us, eh Naruto." Shikamaru said as he looked at the girl. "I think we both now know what happens."

"Yep." Yang said as she forcibly moved her head, moving Shikamaru's. "I have too much power to restrain for long and you're at your limit while I'm still nearly full."

"You're right." Shikamaru said as his shadow faded and returned to him. "I can't win this. I forfeit. Its too troublesome to try to defeat her." He finished as he strolled over to the observers before lying on his back next to Choji, looking at the clouds.

"That was a good spar." Yang said as she walked over to the group, her bruises already fading. "So Ruby, what could you see us doing in that spar that was different to how you see Summer-Kaa-san fight." Putting the eleven year old on the spot.

"Umm..." The girl floundered as she compared all her memories of how her mother fought with how these eight fought. "You used every single advantage you could get, no matter how dirty or underhanded it was to win. Shikamaru stayed in the shadows, out of the way unless he had what he thought was a sure fire attack. Tenten kept everyone at a range that suited her and was only defeated when she was hit by overwhelming force. Ino and Sakura both took opportunities with people who were otherwise occupied, Ino attacked Neji when he was reeling from a double attack and Sakura took out Ino as she recovered from her assault on Neji." She said before taking a deep breath.

"Lee kept attacking Yang when she was recovering from finishing moves, kicking her towards someone who was ready to attack and finally you all kept you attention on everyone around you and didn't stick to fighting a single opponent if you saw an opportunity to attack someone else. Unlike Mum, who tends to get tunnel vision and ignore potentially important details in combat. Like in your first spar she didn't notice the wires on your shuriken." Ruby finished as she looked nervously towards Yang, seeking her approval.

With a slow nod Yang smiled. "We Shinobi fight dirty and seek all advantages that we can get, hunters are more honourable, they are seen as paragons that all look up to. We Shinobi have our own honour codes, but in battle, honour is meaningless. Honour is gained from completing vital missions with all your squad making it through alive. Honour is to die, preserving the lives of the innocent or to save comrades. In battle the only thing that matters is that you survive to fight another day and your enemy will never endanger any of your comrades again."

"Due to these differences in honour systems it equates to different fighting styles and how we act in battle. The area where most hunters fall down is when dirty fighting introduced. Their honour in fighting leaves them with less awareness in a fight. We Shinobi have more awareness in a fight allowing us to see through deception easier but our dubious honour leaves us with a large division between civilians and Shinobi as we tend to stick to our own and wild stories of Shinobi pop up, portraying us as assassins and butchers who will swoop in during the night to kill innocents." She continued. "Damn, how did this turn from a talk about fighting styles to a talk about honour and philosophy. Ero-Sennin's rubbing off on me." She muttered as she thought over what she had said.

Everyone was looking at her owlishly at the uncharacteristic smart moment... Well except Lee, he was still unconscious. "What?" Yang asked as everyone stared at her. "Did you think Ero-Sennin only taught me to fight? He spends a lot of time talking about philosophy and his war stories, he seems to be attempting to make sure I stay on the straight and narrow and never give in to darkness."

They continued staring at her until Shikamaru spoke up. "I guess you're no longer a dumb blonde." He grunted.

"Hey, I am plenty smart." Yang said in annoyance with everyone choosing that moment to look away. After a few moments of being ignored she only had one thing to say.

"Oh, fuck you guys."

* * *

They spent the next few hours milling about the training ground talking and lightly sparring, during this time Yang finally got to ask the question she had been wondering all day. "Hey Sakura-chan, where's Kakashi-sensei?" Yang asked. "I haven't seen him since before I left."

"Kakashi-sensei didn't take Sasukes death very well Naruto." Sakura began, her voice sorrow-laden. "After you left he would always be late to everything by four hours instead of three and we rarely did missions. After I became Shishou's apprentice he rejoined ANBU and I haven't talked to him in eight months."

Yang nodded in thought before Ruby spoke up. "What's ANBU?" She asked in puzzlement.

"ANBU is the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai also know as the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad. It is the black ops of Konoha which makes up only 1% of the forces. The forces has very few known members, the heads of the departments and their second in commands generally being the only ones known." Sakura began before Neji took over.

"There are five official departments. The official departments are the Assassination department, the Torture & Interrogation department, the Demolition department, the Counter Espionage department and the Hunter nin." Neji said, putting an emphasis on the word 'Official.'

"Kakashi-sensei actually left for a mission a week ago, I remember seeing him leave the village with his team. His hair is fairly distinctive." Sakura said from where she was sat.

Stretching slightly Yang pulled out a watch, checking the time. "It's Six o clock now." Yang said in dismay. "Me and Ruby should really be getting back to the ambassadors quarters."

"My clan duties begin in half an hour." Neji said in agreement.

"Shit, I need to finish forging those shuriken." Tenten said with wide eyes.

"I'm hungry." Choji absentmindedly added as he looked mournfully at his empty bag of chips.

Standing up from where she was sat she grabbed Ruby's hand before pulling her up. "We'll have to meet up again, soon." She said as she looked around at the group.

"It will depend on our schedules, we have training and missions while Sakura has her hospital shifts." Shikamaru said from where he sat.

"We'll figure out something." Sakura said with a small smile. "Anyway, I have to come with you to talk to Shishou so lets get moving."

"Sayonara minna." Yang said with a wave before the trio walked off, towards the ambassadors quarters. The walk mainly consisted of Yang telling funny stories from the year with Ruby cutting in to correct her when she overstated what had happened.

They quickly arrived at the consulate, next to the Hokage's mansion. It was a fancy apartment building with a view of the Hokage monument. It had several guard positions nearby and was in an area of Konoha that had a heavy Shinobi presence. This was a show of strength, to show that they were strong and not to be messed with. There was a lot of subliminal messaging and elements showing the state of cold war they were in with Iwa and Kumo.

Entering the building they made their way up to the correct floor, passing through several office areas to reach the apartment. The door was made of Hashirama Iron wood a wood that was known to be as tough as Iron. It was the strongest known wood in the world, created through Senju Hashirama's Mokuton. It was covered in intricate images of ivy and leaves, disguising a multitude of seals for protection, fire dampening and several security seals.

Knocking on the door they were admitted to the apartment by Shizune. It was a large room, a lounge combined with the kitchen, the walls were wood panelled covered in paintings of various battles and strong figures such as the Densetsu no Sanin, Hatake Sakumo and his battle against the Suna DUNE forces, during the Dainiji Ninkai Taisen and Senju Hashirama battling Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End.

The room had a large, wall length window at the back leading onto a balcony facing the Hokage monument as its view. Even from here Yang could pick out several watch posts set up to watch the consulate. It actually struck Yang how all this was set up. It was all a show of power, from the paintings showing Konoha's strength to the obvious spies giving a message of, 'yeah, we're watching you, what are you going to do about it.'

The room had several high tech devices strewn around it, mainly technology from Vale, for any other hidden village it would be impressive but for Vale it was just homely.

Tsunade and Shen were sitting on the L-shaped sofa in the centre of the room. The Hokage bodyguards were hidden around the room, one by the bookcases under a genjutsu, one in a corner using the Meisaigakure no Jutsu and Genma was leaning in the corner not even bothering to hide.

"Hey Baa-chan, Pops, Shizune, Raido, Genma, Iwashi." She said nonchalantly as she moved to the sofa. "How's it going?" She finished as she collapsed onto the sofa.

Blinking slowly Tsunade looked at Yang, before slowly asking. "Naruto, how do you know the names of my guards?"

"You have the same guards as Jii-chan did, they would be sent to pick me up two or three times a day, depending on who I pissed off." Yang said with a shrug. "I picked them up over the years, I gave them nicknames which I used until they told me their names. Genma was senbon guy, Raido was scarface and Iwashi was goat face 'cause he had a goatee."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that Iwashi was called goat face." Genma said with a chuckle.

"So, what's for grub? I am starved." Yang said as she lounged, shuffling over to let Ruby sit down. "We had a big sparring match. I won of course, but it's been nearly six hours since we ate. So, yeah, hungry here." She said before her stomach growled to illustrate her point.

"Food will be half an hour." Tsunade said before turning towards Sakura. "So, what did you want, Sakura?"

"Shishou, I need to inform you that I am moving into the barracks. I was going to tell you earlier but I got sidetracked by Naruto coming home." Sakura said while standing to attention.

"So you finally decided to move out?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow. "It took you long enough." She said before throwing a pair of keys at Sakura. "I can't have my apprentice living in the barracks."

"This is the key to the Hokage's mansion." She said in confusion. "You want me to move into the mansion?"

"Shizune lived with me since she started her apprenticeship and now you will." Tsunade said. "Now go grab your stuff and move into the third door from the left, I'll be back in a few hours." She finished before waving her off.

"Sakura-chan, what is Baa-chan on about?" Yang asked, her voice laden with concern.

"I'll tell you later Naruto. Just... I'll tell you later." Sakura said before making a few hand signs. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said before vanishing in a flurry of leaves.

'Why can't she tell me now?' Yang thought to herself as she watched the leaves float to the ground before fading as they ran out of chakra.

"Gaki, leave it until she tells you herself, she wouldn't want you to pry." Tsunade said from where she was sitting, cutting off Yang's thoughts. "It's not something she wants to speak about in front of just anyone."

Nodding slightly, Yang turned before looking at Ruby. "Lets get this out of the way." She said while looking at Ruby, receiving a nod in return. "Hey Baa-chan, we need to talk about my little sis here. Unless you trust them not to spill, could you send people out of the room."

Cocking her eyebrow at Yang she made several hand signs causing Genma to move from where he was leaning and close the curtains. "It must be good if you're asking me to keep quiet. The only secret I've ever seen you successfully keep is about your status as a Jinchuuriki, so either this is important or you've got smarter."

"Oi, I'm plenty smart, babaa." She responded with a tick mark, immediately causing Tsunade to gain her own tick mark.

"Watch it Gaki, I'm still your Hokage." She ground out as she glared at Yang.

"You're a vain, drunken, babaa, who wouldn't know awesome if she looked her in the face." Yang replied with a smirk as she leaned forwards, closer to the Hokage.

"Stop calling me babaa, Gaki." Tsunade said while leaning closer to Yang, sparks jumping between their eyes. "You're playing with fire Gaki. Be careful or you might get burned." She finished with a sadistic gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, don't worry about that Baa-chan." Yang said before using her semblance to ignite her hair. "I already burn."

The sound of Shen clearing his throat interrupted their argument, causing them both to turn their heads to look at the amused ambassador. "I think you were about to say something Yang?" He said with a small grin.

Knowing the mood was lost and that she was pissed off, Yang took great pleasure in her next two words. "Ruby... Eyes." With a short nod Ruby's eyes appeared to spin before her Sharingan appeared in its full glory. One tomoe in her right eye and two in her left, causing Yang to blink as the Shinobi in the room were shocked speechless. "Hey Ruby, when did you unlock the second tomoe in your left eye?"

"That day you went with Dad to the Foreign Department, Mum trained me and I unlocked the second tomoe during our short spar." Ruby said as she turned to face Yang. "I didn't want to show you until my other eye had caught up." She admitted with a small smile before Tsunade recovered.

"Explain why this Gaki has the Sharingan." Tsunade said with a hard edge to her voice.

"Umm, her mother died in child birth and her father is a non entity." Yang said nervously as Tsunade glared at her until she was saved by Shen.

"Her mother was one Opal Fisk, an immigrant from Atlas. Her father is an unknown who we are leaning towards being a member of the Uchiha clan. Her mother died in child birth and we can only assume that her father died in the massacre, we were hoping you could help us find out who he is." He said as he interrupted Yang.

"If there's one, there could be more." Tsunade mumbled with her head in her hand. "Alright, give me a blood sample and I'll check it out." Tsunade said as she removed her head from her hand. "It will take about a week to come through, if your father was from Konoha then we'll know."

"Thank you for this Baa-chan." Yang said with a large grin as Ruby swallowed nervously. "Lets do this."

-Chapter 4 End-

Authors note - Some people have been asking about pairings, there is yuri in this fic, no Yang is not with Ruby and the pairings are already set and are a secret... That is the main pairings, there will be relationships other than the final pairings that will not go anywhere. Just because it happens in a chapter does not make it final... It could but it also could not. ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note - Hi all, Raisuke here. Thank you for all the comments and positive reviews I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer - I do not own RWBY or Naruto. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively, please support the official releases

-Chapter 5 Start-

With a groan on her lips and the feeling of shattered glass in her throat Yang sat up from the bed she was sprawled out in. Her head was pounding and every noise was amplified to insane degree's. She had a hangover, she had a legitimate hangover.

It was her fourth day back in Konoha and her and Sakura had finally met back up on the third night, it was the earliest they could manage, with Sakura's hospital shifts, apprenticeship and just general training.

Their talk had descended into drinking after Sakura began on why she had moved out of her parents and they found one of Tsunade's stashes. Who knew that she had chakra resistant booze.

As it turns out, Tsunade's body burns off alcohol at an accelerated rate due to her chakra's natural predisposition towards Iryō-chakra, as such she special orders Sake from Na no Kuni which was grown and created with chakra to enhance the taste and quality but adds the side effect of making the alcohol resistant towards chakra.

Flinching as she slowly stood up she almost stumbled when she felt resistance on her arm. 'Why is there resistance.' Yang thought as she slowly turned her head to look at what was restraining her. 'Oh shit.'

Lying in the bed, hugging her arm was the pinkette known as her ex team-mate, Sakura. 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. She's gonna kill me.' Yang thought as she slowly attempted to remove her arm. Only to be cut off by the sound of light laughter from the door.

Turning her head she was greeted by the sight of Tsunade leaning against the door frame with a smirk on her face. "So what have we here Gaki? Did you get a little drunk on MY sake and lose your virginity with my apprentice?" She asked with a grin. The grin turned to a smirk as Yang noticed she was naked and tried to cover herself with her free hand. "I wonder how Sakura will feel about this when she wakes up?"

"Now lets not be hasty about this Baa-chan." Yang said in alarm, cringing at the pounding within her skull. "We can work something out." She quickly said in an attempt to placate the woman.

"This is what you get for stealing my booze." She said as she turned around and begun to close the door. "Isn't that right, Sakura!" She finished with a yell before slamming the door closed causing Yang to flinch as her head nearly exploded. This was compounded as she was pulled off balance, landing back on the bed as Sakura jerked awake, still hugging her arm.

Sakura blinked as she came back to awareness, only to realise three facts. One, she was naked. Two, she was hugging Yang's arm and three Yang was naked as well. It only took her a second to put it together. With a nervous chuckle in the face of a furious Sakura, Yang had only one recourse.

"Mercy?"

* * *

A battered Yang sat next to Sakura at the breakfast table, both dressed in sleeping gowns, sitting opposite an amused Tsunade and a concerned Shizune.

They were sitting in silence, until Tsunade started with the quips. "So does she live up to her namesake?"

"Shut up!" They both yelled.

"Did she rock your world?"

"Stop it Shishou." Sakura begged.

"Do the drapes match the carpet."

"Stop it Baa-chan." Yang yelled with a blush. "You're as bad as Ero-sennin."

Tsunade's entire demeanour changed in that moment, from a humorous smirk to a scary snarl. "Don't even joke about that."

"You're the one asking how I am in bed, Ero-babaa." Yang screamed in reply.

"And you're the one who stole my booze Gaki, I see this as payback." Tsunade replied.

"Tsunade-sama, I really think you should stop teasing them. You and my Uncle were no better." Shizune responded in a tone that brooked no resistance. "In fact, I remember once when I was eight and I found you and him in the kitchen with the whipped cre..."

"Yes Shizune, we get it." Tsunade said with a blush and a small smile as she remembered the good old days, never noticing the drop of blood falling from her nose.

"Oi, oi, Baa-chan. Get your mind out of the gutter, you're as bad as Ero-sennin." Yang said with squinted eyes as she scrutinised Tsunade, receiving a piercing glare in response.

"Be careful Gaki, you're on a slippery slope to a pain filled future." Tsunade said as she began cracking her knuckles.

"Bring it on Baa-chan." Yang said before her head painfully impacted with the table courtesy of Sakura's fist.

"Stop picking fights with Shishou." Sakura said in annoyance before rounding on Tsunade. "And you Shishou, stop encouraging her. You're both acting as bad as Konohamaru."

Tsunade gained a sheepish look on her face at that. It wasn't often that Sakura would speak out against her and to be told she was acting worse than a ten year old, ouch. "The facts are that me and Naruto got drunk and slept together, neither of us remember it and you are fishing for details like Jiraiya-sama would. Can we all be quiet now, my head feels like its filled with broken glass." Sakura groaned as she finished her rant, putting her hand on her head in pain.

"So what happened last night anyway?" Tsunade asked as she leaned back in her chair.

"Well we met up at the consulate to hang out..." Sakura began.

-Flashback start-

"Ruby! Where's my sandals?" Yang yelled from their joint room. "I left them in here, I just know I did." She muttered as she tore the room apart.

"You left them by the door." Came Ruby's voice from the living room. "You know, after you trained with Gai-sensei."

"Ya mean after we trained with Gekimayu-sensei?" Yang said as she charged into the living room. "He was most enthusiastic to 'help young Ruby's spring time of youth blossom.'" She said, mimicking Gai's voice for the last part, causing Ruby to shiver.

"No one should have eyebrows that big or teeth that shiny." Ruby said in quiet terror, causing Yang to laugh at her. "Stop laughing Yang, its not funny."

"Don't worry Ruby everyone is creeped out when they first see Gekimayu-sensei and Gejimayu." Yang said, chuckling as she remembered her teams reaction to the pair. "You'll get used to them soon enough."

"Their eyebrows are like big hairy caterpillars." Ruby replied, not really paying attention. "I swear I saw them blink."

"Yeah, whatever you say Sis." Yang said with a sweat drop. Picking up her sandals to pull them on. "So are you gonna be alright tonight. We got the closet perv to give you a few lessons with Kono-chan on the Kawarimi."

"Wait... I'm finally going to learn a new Jutsu? You haven't taught me any since the Henge." Ruby replied, snapping out of her funk at the mention of learning a new technique.

"Yeah, I asked him to teach it to you because, according to Ero-sennin, I accidentally created a new Kawarimi as well as a new Henge. Turns out I'm good at accidentally creating techniques." Yang said sheepishly. "Turns out that I can't even do the Academy Three."

"Who's the closet perv?" Ruby asked in confusion, Yang had never mentioned any closet perverts.

"His name is Ebisu, he's a Tokubetsu Jonin that was assigned to be Kono-chan's personal teacher." Yang said from the sofa, where she was stashing several Kunai within her clothes.

She was wearing an orange and black yukata with open toed sandals, her hair was up in a pig tail and was fairly straight, compared to the usually uncontrollable mess.

"Where are you going Yang?" Ruby asked as she looked at Yang's fancy attire.

"Me and Sakura-chan are gonna hang out and we're taking advantage of our statuses to do it." Yang said with a grin. "We were able to get a table at the Opāru Magatama, by using our statuses as the Hokages Apprentice and the Vale Ambassador's Daughter."

"Why do you get to go to a fancy restaurant and I don't?" Ruby said with a pout.

Raising an eyebrow Yang looked at Ruby. "I thought you wanted to learn more jutsus? Well I guess I'll just have to cancel the lessons on the Bunshin no Jutsu and the Kakuremino no Jutsu." Yang replied in mock seriousness, causing Ruby's annoyance to crumble into terror.

"I'll be good, I'll be good." She said while waving her arms around. "Besides, who wants to go to a stupid restaurant, not me, that's for sure." Ruby replied quickly, causing Yang to chuckle at her antics. Whatever she was going to say in response was cut off by the door being knocked.

Strolling over to the door Yang roughly pulled it open to reveal a ragged Ebisu who was looking out of breath. The reason why was revealed when three blurs hit into her legs with a cry of "Naruto-nee-chan."

"Yo." Yang said while looking at Ebisu. "I'm so glad you got here before Sakura-chan did."

"Hello Uzumaki-san, I apologise for being late but Konohamaru-kun wanted to bring Moegi-san and Udon-san and wouldn't leave until I went and collected them." Ebisu said while pushing his sunglasses further up his nose, secretly enjoying the look on Konohamaru's face from being ignored.

"Nee-chan." Kono whined until Yang shushed him with a smile on her face.

"She already knows the Henge and can perform the Leaf sticking exercise to the point where she is sticking fifteen leaves." Yang said with a small amount of pride.

"Uzumaki-san, the leaf sticking exercise is mainly to increase ones ability to concentrate, it isn't meant to be done with multiple leaves." Ebisu said with a sweat drop.

"Yeah but shinobi need to be able to concentrate on multiple things at once." Yang responded as if it was obvious.

"I can understand the reasoning but it doesn't work like that Uzumaki-san." He responded with a sheepish look. "While it would help with her control somewhat, it wouldn't do much. That's why the academy moves onto the Leaf floating exercise as soon as the student finishes the Leaf concentration practice."

An awkward silence filled the room at this before it was broken by Ruby. "Don't worry Yang, Jiraiya told me about the Leaf floating exercise last month. That's what I've been doing, I'm up to six leaves now."

"And why didn't you tell me before I made myself look like an idiot?" Yang replied red faced.

"You don't need my help with that." Ruby muttered under her breath, causing the trio of children to giggle. Getting slightly more red faced Yang decided payback was in order. Creating a Kage Bunshin she began her dastardly plan.

"Go hide the cookies." Was all she had to say before Ruby gained a look like the world had shattered around her. A short confused scream came from Ruby's mouth before the begging began.

The begging was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat outside the door. Standing just behind Ebisu was Sakura, she was wearing a red floral Yukata with an orange obi and had her hair up in a bun.

"Ah, you're here." Yang said in shock before turning back into the room. "Gaki's meet Ruby, Ruby Gaki's. Try and behave for Ebisu." She said before leaving the room quickly, grabbing Sakura as she did before they disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

The room went quiet at the quick departure before it is broken by Ruby's question. "So who are you three?"

* * *

The Opāru Magatama was a platinum rated restaurant located in the heart of the market district. It was a restaurant that catered only to the 'elite', to the most important of clientele. The clan heads, the diplomats, the Hokage and her personal entourage.

It served food from all over the nations, from Sushi to Yakisoba to Nabemono, with many varieties of each. It was an expensive restaurant with a meal costing nearly thirty times more than the average restaurant. It was a good thing Tsunade had decided to foot the bill.

In a flurry of leaves, Yang and Sakura appeared outside the front door to the restaurant. "Table for two under Xiao Long." Yang said to the woman at the door before they were led to their private booth.

While they perused the menu Sakura began to make conversation. "So, why did we leave so quickly? It looked like you were saying goodbye." She asked without looking up from the menu.

"I made a fool of myself and Ruby already knew it, she just didn't tell me." Yang replied while rubbing her neck. "I just wanted to get out of there."

"So I'm just an excuse now am I?" Sakura asked in amusement. "Whatever happened to the Naruto that would ask me out everyday and would never use me for anything but making cow eyes at?"

"She decided to play the long game." Yang replied with a smirk. "You're obviously not ready to date one such as myself, so its all a matter of waiting until the time is right."

"So you're going to wait for me to suddenly become a lesbian?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow, actually looking up from her menu.

"I can tell you're Bi, Sakura-chan, whether you've realised it or not. I'm willing to wait until you're ready." Yang said with a smile, leaving Sakura speechless. They were quiet for a few more minutes before Yang got annoyed at the menu and threw it onto the table. "Dammit, I don't know if any of this is good. Sakura-chan can you order for me?"

"How do you not know if any of these foods are any good? You must have tasted the cheap versions as a child." She asked incredulously.

"From the moment I joined the academy the only food I could afford that was safe to eat was ramen. I ate ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So no, I have no idea what's good." Yang replied as she looked at Sakura, her posture screaming pure seriousness.

Blanching at the thought of only eating ramen for six years, Sakura perused the menu until the waitress came back "Can we have a sushi platter and a plate of gyoza for the starter and some Tetsu no Kuni style oden with a plate of Kiri style tempura for our main." She ordered, receiving a bow in acknowledgment.

"So Sakura-chan, how's your apprenticeship with Baa-chan going?" Yang asked as soon as the waitress had left.

"It's going fine Naruto, Shishou has me learning medicine, medicine and more medicine. I actually haven't learnt much combat aside from dodging and an improved taijutsu style." Sakura said while leaning back in her chair, sighing slightly she continued. "In the way of jutsu, I picked up one or two from Shizune. If I'm honest I sometimes think that Shishou won't train me for combat, that she just wants another medic."

"Don't be so hard on Baa-chan, Sakura-chan." Yang said as she leaned forwards. "I was given a few scrolls on the human body and I learned ways to hurt and cripple people from just a few punches in the correct areas. I think she's playing to your strengths Sakura-chan. Your body isn't ready to be trained for combat, your chakra reserves are too small and you're not toned enough in the right areas. So she is slowly building that up, while teaching you medicine and the human body, until you are ready to learn combat."

"Really?" Sakura asked as she looked at Yang.

"Yep, Ero-sennin has more been working on improving how I fight and learning how to adjust my current arsenal. How to adjust my Rasengan's size, how to do it one handed, new ways to use the Kage Bunshin and combat tactics. Everything else has been from a few scrolls I had and experimentation." Yang said as she sipped her water. "You should focus on what you are given and experiment with what you know."

"Naruto, when did you get smart?" She asked as she shook her head.

"I couldn't stay the orange wearing knuckle head forever could I? I had to grow up sometime." Yang replied with a shrug. "I've grown up a lot during the last year, ever since Sasuke died I've been growing up."

"Sasuke-kun's death changed everything, didn't it?" Sakura said with a sigh. "It caused you to grow up, it brought all our teams together as close friends, it was the straw that broke the camels back with the strain between me and my parents."

"Wait what's going on with you and your parents?" Yang asked in confusion, before thinking over the last conversation they had the year before. "Wait you mentioned you and your parents were arguing before I left a year ago. What was it about?"

"Well I did promise to talk about it." Sakura said with a sad sigh. "What you have to understand is that both my parents are ex-shinobi but neither made it past their first five missions before they were benched due to their injuries. Tou-san lost a leg and Kaa-san was stabbed in the lung meaning she has trouble breathing."

"They weren't too happy that I wanted to be a shinobi but couldn't stop me due to the military freedom of choice act." Sakura said, stopping at Yang's look of confusion at the law name. "It covers many different areas but one of the areas is that it allows children to join any of the Konoha shinobi academies regardless of guardian permission."

"I was one of the students who scored highest on the competency test so I was chosen to enter the Hokage academy, the only academy that offered the Jonin squad option. Everyone else is sent to the Genin Corps."

"I never had to do a competency test." Yang said in thought. "I guess they wanted the Jinchuuriki to be well trained." She said with a shrug.

"The only ones who get into the Hokage academy without the test is clan heirs, last of bloodlines and those in the Hokage's favour." Sakura said in thought before looking slightly resigned. "I don't mean to hurt your memory of him but..."

"Yeah, I know. I've known since the day I found out about my status as the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. I figured it out myself, I wasn't saved from the streets by a kindly old man, I was saved from the streets by a Hokage, a Hokage who wanted to ensure the loyalty of his Jinchuuriki." Yang said with a large sigh as she stared into her glass. "He probably knew the moment I was thrown onto the streets but saw it as a way to make me loyal to him. I can't even hate him for it because I understand why he did it, I hate it but I understand."

"Anyway." Sakura said changing the topic back. "They didn't want me to become a shinobi and spent a lot of time trying to convince me to stop being a shinobi, I never listened but they always tried."

"Then I graduated and became a genin and they stopped protesting me becoming a shinobi and started protesting about my team placement, at first I thought it was a new way to stop me from becoming a shinobi but now I think it was the team itself."

"The team consisted of a world famous ex-ANBU, the last surviving Uchiha and the village Jinchuuriki, we were designed to be a front lines, heavy combat squad. I guess I was put on the team to be the medic. They were scared for me but wouldn't tell me why, I understand not telling me about your status as a Jinchuuriki but... They refused to allow me the choice." She said with a sigh.

"After the details of our missions began coming back they stepped up their game. More conversations, less acting as a family." Sakura looked more depressed as she went on. "Eventually we were arguing about everything and it was a few days ago that I finally snapped and moved out. They may have had my best interests at heart but I made my choice and I never regretted it, they didn't and still don't understand that."

"I never thought I would sound like Baa-chan but I need a drink."

-Flashback end-

"We had several drinks with dinner and came back here and found one of Baa-chans stashes, I don't have much memory after that." Yang finished.

"What was that crack about sounding like me Gaki?" Tsunade said while glaring at the blonde.

"Exactly as it sounded Baa-chan." The blonde replied.

Before they could get into it Shizune spoke up. "Tsunade-sama, it's eight o'clock you need to get ready for the day."

Blinking stupidly Tsunade turned her head almost mechanically to look at the clock. "Well I'll be damned." She said before her eyes widened and she sprang into action moving to quickly find her clothes and her hat.

"Crap, I was supposed to meet Gekimayu-sensei for training at eight." Yang suddenly yelled before standing up and running back to Sakura's room to pull on her clothes.

She arrived at training ground nine at quarter past eight to see Lee performing one fingered push ups, Tenten running laps and Neji performing several kata as Gai-sensei was standing to the side with Ruby talking to him.

"Sorry I'm late, I went to sleep on the wrong side of a sake bottle and woke up on the wrong side of Baa-chan." Yang said while rubbing the back of her head.

"In other words you drunk Hokage-sama's sake and she was pissed off at you for it." Neji said in amusement. "I was walking past the Hokage's mansion when she yelled at you for stealing it." Neji said to explain himself.

"Yeah sure let's go with that." Yang said while blinking rapidly. "Ruby, what are you doing here?" She asked the preteen.

"Gai-sensei and Lee turned up this morning looking for you and he offered to train me." She replied. "He said he would help me gain a fighting style."

"Yosh! Ruby-chan would be perfect for the Hayaiken. It's the speed variation of my Goken." Gai said loudly. "It focuses on moving fast enough that your opponent can never hit you and targeting debilitating points on the body."

"Okay." Yang said while blinking some more. "So what should I do?" She asked.

"You have never used a fighting style and I believe you never shall. Your entire fighting style revolves around doing whatever you feel will help you. Your unpredictability is your greatest asset in a fight, it is what allowed you to land blows on Neji-kun during the times you fought."

"Now that I think about it all the times you hit Mom, Jiraiya and Uncle Qrow have been because you surprised them." Ruby said in thought, her finger on her chin. "From tricking people into thinking your Kage Bunshin were you, to flash bombs in your hand, to your use of Henge in combat."

"On those lines you will be sparring with Lee, you will be working on the speed at which you read your opponents moves and create plans to defeat them. While Lee will be working on using the Goken without set patterns and learning to protect himself when people figure out how he moves." Gai-sensei said with a wide, toothy smile.

"Okay then, come on then Lee, let's begin beating each other up." Yang said with a grin as she looked at the boy who had just leaped up into a ready position.

"Yosh Naruto-chan, let's have a most youthful match." Lee said with his nice guy pose. "If I cannot win I shall perform five hundred Jack knives and if I cannot do that I shall climb the Hokage monument two hundred times with one hand tied behind my back."

"You will fight until I tell you to stop, you are limited to taijutsu and nin-taijutsu, use of the eight gates and bijuu chakra are forbidden, get ready." Gai-sensei said as he looked between the two. "Hajime."

Lee opened the fight in his usual way, with a cry of "Konoha Senpu." He threw a spinning hook kick towards Yang's head, which she ducked underneath before it was turned into a body kick by Lee.

"You use this technique too much Lee." Yang said, putting her hand on Lee's ankle, before using it as leverage to launch a bicycle kick into Lee's face.

The kick struck Lee in the face causing him to fly backwards, rolling on the floor several times before righting himself. He was blinking rather stupidly at his attack being thwarted like that, even Neji dodged.

"You use that technique too much." Yang reiterated.

"Yosh Lee, now we will see how well you understand the Goken, can you use it in new ways." Gai-sensei said loudly. "Can you surpass yourself?"

This time Yang was the one to start their clash. Leaping forwards she threw a hook towards Lee's face which he blocked with his forearm before she sent a low kick towards his knee, which he blocked by raising his leg so his shin connected with the kick.

Yang reacted by allowing herself to fall, catching herself on one hand before using it to perform a double kick from the floor into Lee's stomach. He reacted quickly, clamping down on her feet he swung around, lifting her into the air before slamming her into the ground.

She was stunned for only a second before she swung her leg in an attempt to sweep him, he dodged by jumping backwards allowing Yang to swing into a crouch before leaping forwards to attack him in the air. They clashed in mid air with punches and kicks flying as they battled for dominance. The clash ended with Lee flying backwards after Yang landed a kick to his head.

Pulling himself up Lee gave a large grin before beginning to loosen the bandages from around his arms and legs. "Yosh Naruto-chan, you are too much to handle while I wear these. Let us even the playing field." Lee said before the bandages fell off revealing his weights which were quickly shed. In four explosions of dust the weights impacted with the ground before Lee blurred.

Suddenly Yang was lifted off the ground as Lee's foot connected with her face.

'Damn, I saw him move but I couldn't move my body fast enough to block him.' Yang thought as a fist struck her in the side, sending her flying across the clearing. 'I need to either slow him down or speed myself up.' She thought before a heel impacted with her face, sending her crashing to the ground.

As she bounced upwards Lee's foot hooked underneath her forcing her once more into the air where Lee appeared underneath her, completely parallel to her. "Kage Buyou." Next he grabbed her by the wrists before kicking off of her legs to plant his own feet on the ground before slamming her into the ground, creating a small crater and a dust cloud. "Kage Muchi."

"Well done Lee, be careful of Naruto-chan's response." Gai yelled as he looked upon his student.

Meanwhile Yang was thinking over the clash. 'He's too fast, I can see the attacks and how to respond but I'm too slow to do it.' She thought with a frown. 'No... It's not the speed rather the acceleration, I can get to that speed but I can't get there fast enough. I need someway to boost my acceleration.'

Launching out of the dust cloud she threw a punch at Lee's head only to have him move to the side before grabbing her wrist and kicking her in the side. 'How does Lee have his level of acceleration? He only seems to push off the floor... That's it.' Yang thought a smile coming to her face. 'He actually kicks the floor and allows the backlash to increase his acceleration and performs it several times in a short period of time to increase it further.'

'That's why he's so fast when he opens the gates, because his strength increases so does the strength of his kick on the floor. But how does that help me?' Suddenly she was jarred from her thoughts by her hitting a tree. 'Kuso, that hurt. This is like fighting Qrow, he doesn't give me enough time to think. Wait Qrow.'

'Qrow uses the recoil from his scythe's sniper rifle to turn quickly, it's a concussive blast... Could I imitate it?' She thought before looking at her hand and sending a small blast of flame from it, smiling as she felt her hand jolt. 'That's good, now lets put it into practice.'

Over with Gai he smiled as he saw the change in Yang's posture. "Can't you stop this." Came the voice of Ruby as she watched her sister being smacked around like a rag doll. "This is completely one sided." She said.

"This is completely brutal. I don't think anyone our age could stand up to a barrage of blows like that." Tenten agreed, cringing as she looked at the battle.

"This fight is not over, so long as Naruto-san can stand up this fight is far from over." Neji said as he watched the fight. "Naruto-san's chakra has also changed. It was agitated and chaotic before but now it is calm, she has figured something out, something that makes her believe she is going to win."

Lee never noticed the change in Yang so he was surprised when she burst forwards with levels of acceleration she had never displayed before. As her fist was closing in on his face he began raising his arm to block but was shocked when the fist suddenly accelerated again, slamming into his jaw sending him smashing into the ground, creating a furrow in the floor from where he skidded.

Quickly jumping up he was met by the sight of a heel slamming into his cheek sending him careening to the side before his opponent appeared underneath him in the kage buyou. Quickly she wrapped her legs around his waist before wrapping her arms over his chest, preventing him from moving his arms. Then the spinning started, the air grew hotter and Lee could swear he could see a stream of fire surrounding them, appearing as a spiral of fire as they accelerated. "Hi no Uzu." Yang yelled before they slammed into the ground, Lee suffering the majority of the damage.

When the dust cleared only Yang was standing, her bruises fading already. Lee was battered and bruised, trying to force himself up from the ground with no luck. "Lee this fight is over." Gai said from the sidelines as he began to walk over to the pair.

Yang was the first to move, walking over to Lee before pulling him to his feet. "Good fight Lee. You helped me create a new way for me to fight." She said with a big shit eating grin.

"I couldn't figure it out but how did you defeat me?" Lee said with an eager tint to his voice, almost shaking in excitement at the thought.

"Did any of you figure it out?" Yang asked as she looked at the spectators.

"You created a method of increasing your acceleration using your fire. You used it to out accelerate Lee." Neil said as he deactivated his Byakugan. "You also used it to manoeuvre yourself in the air."

Nodding Yang created a burst of flame from her hand, causing her arm to quickly shoot downwards. "I based it on how Qrow uses the recoil from his Sniper-Scythe to turn quickly." She explained with only Ruby and Gai understanding. "I need to work on it, it seems to be quite inefficient." Yang lamented. "I'm down nearly half my Aura from that small clash alone."

"We have something for you to work on, Lee..." Gai began only to see Lee performing Jack knives on the ground. "Continue what you are doing. Neji-kun, continue work on your Hakke Kūshō. Tenten-chan, work on your Bojutsu. Ruby-chan, we will begin your Taijutsu training now." He said before finishing with his nice guy pose... The sparkly teeth... The horror.

* * *

'This is... Troubling.' Tsunade thought as she looked in between the two scrolls in front of her. One was the results of Ruby's blood test and the other was a missive from Sunagakure.

Suna had been unable to prepare for the Chunin Exams due to their continuing recovery from the failed invasion of Konoha and the Gelel incident so they had passed it over to Konoha as a sign of good faith... With only two weeks until the exams themselves she had a lot of work. They had to redesign the fighting arena of the stadium, designate living areas for each of the ninja villages that wouldn't place anyone near anyone they had tension with. A new first and second exam had to be designed and word had to be spread to the nobles to make them arrive.

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Then there was the blood test, that was a can of worms she almost didn't want to touch. How could one girls parentage cause so much trouble. But that could wait, the Jonin had to be called.

* * *

Ruby groaned from her position on the sofa in the apartment, her arms and legs were burning from her training. The Hayaiken was a speed style which required her to increase her speed to higher levels, to help with this Gai-sensei had some resistance seals added to some black bandages which were now wrapped around her arms and legs.

Gai-sensei explained that the style required a different method of acceleration when compared to the Goken, meaning it required different muscles to be strengthened. The weights meant that there was a constant weight pulling down on your limbs causing the muscles that are used to lift your leg in specific directions gain much more work than normal which, when combined with specific exercises can be used to increase kick strength and punch strength.

Resistance seals create a resistance within the muscles, meaning that a lot more effort is required to move. This method affects all the muscles equally, increasing the entire body, instead of specific muscles, but the trade off is that you will never reach the strength levels of the weights method but will have a much leaner and flexible build.

Gai-sensei received a messenger hawk in the middle of the training session which forced him to leave. They continued training after that, with Neji leaving early for clan training. Yang was actually exhausted by the end of training, having exhausted her Aura, so she was gorging over at the fridge.

The training Ruby was put through was mainly laps of the training ground and punches and kicks on the training dummy. Yang's training relied upon improving her manoeuvrability with her new trick, big movements, small movements, fast accelerations and small adjustments. This was helped by Tenten who would throw specific patterns of weapons which Yang had to manoeuvre through. They had to stop for snacks several times and had a big lunch at Ichiraku Ramen, but they finished the day.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yang trudging out of the kitchen with two full pizzas and a plate of cookies. "Eat up Sis, we need the energy if we're going to train again tomorrow." Yang said placing the food on the table in front of Ruby before inhaling a slice of pizza.

"Is this really enough food?" Ruby asked as she took a large bite from a slice of pizza. They usually ate far more food than this.

"This is just to tide us over until dinner. Pops said he was eating with Baa-chan tonight so we could eat dinner with him at the Hokage Mansion." Yang explained before they heard the window slide open. "We didn't expect you to be in Konoha Ero-sennin." She said as the legendary nin let himself into the apartment.

"Something's come up and Hime asked me to come back." He said before grabbing one of the pieces of pizza, dodging the feeble attempt at stopping him. "So why does my cute little apprentice look like she had a training session with Gai?"

"Because that's exactly what happened to me." Yang replied through a mouth that was stuffed with pizza. "I sparred with Rock Lee today and created a new trick, then I spent the whole day working on it. I used my Aura more than I ever have."

"What's the trick?" Jiraiya asked as he looked at his student with interest. "I may be able to help you with it."

"I know exactly how I can improve it, I'm just not good enough yet." Yang said with a pout. "I need to improve my wind manipulation but I don't know the exercises and when I asked Asuma-sensei earlier he said it was a Jonin level skill that I wasn't ready for."

"No offence to Sarutobi-sensei's Gaki but I'm your teacher not him." Jiraiya said before looking to Yang for clarification. "How does the technique work and why do you need wind manipulation for it?"

"The trick is to send a burst of flame from a part of my body like a rocket engine to accelerate myself quickly and manoeuvre in the air. The problem is it takes too much Aura." Yang said as she helped herself to more pizza. "So I thought of using wind natured character to boost it, meaning I use less Aura in the technique. Because I have so much chakra and barely any Aura."

"From what Qrow told me, you have above average Aura reserves for a semblance user your age. Nothing special but more than most people." Jiraiya said in thought. "But learning an element could help with your training. Eh, what the hell, for the first stage of wind training you need to split a leaf in half using only your chakra."

"That's it?" Yang asked blinking slightly. "I was expecting something grander."

"That's stage two." Jiraiya said with a grin. "But I'm not going to tell you about that yet."

"So, can you tell us anything about why you're back in Konoha? Does it have anything to do with why Gekimayu-sensei left in the middle of the training session?" Yang asked, curiosity lacing her voice.

Putting his hand on his chin he thought aloud. "Well it's not exactly classified and everyone will know by tomorrow and we'll probably talk about it at dinner so... No, I won't tell you." He said causing a tick mark to appear on her head.

"If I wasn't exhausted I would hit you." Yang said in annoyance.

"Sure you would Gaki, sure you would."

* * *

It had been a few hours since then, the trio had just arrived at the Hokage Mansion. As they got to the door they were immediately ditched by Jiraiya, whose reasons became clear within moments.

"Pervert!" Came a yell from inside the building, followed by a crash and the sound of a tree collapsing. With a shake of her head Yang knocked the door.

The door was opened a few minutes later by an irate Sakura who immediately blushed upon seeing Yang. "Um, hi Naruto, Ruby. Come in." She said awkwardly, allowing them inside. "Sorry I'm a bit flustered, I caught Jiraiya-sama sneaking through Shishou's window. She had left some clothes for me in her room and I was changing. He was so shocked by seeing me he actually allowed me to hit him."

"Is that why we heard a tree fall?" Ruby asked, noting the slight wince from Sakura at that.

"There is nothing more powerful than a fist of female fury. I found that out repeatedly during the academy." Yang said while rubbing her head with phantom pains. "Well he should be fine, he's suffered worse from when I got him caught at the hot springs."

"You beat him that badly?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. She only hit Jiraiya because he was shocked by a near naked fourteen year old, how would Naruto be able to hit him?

"Nah I would yell the word pervert and leave him to the mob of women that emerged from the hot springs. You would think he would learn." Yang replied while shaking her head. "He even confided in me that the only time he has nearly died was when Baa-chan caught him peeping on her." Yang finished with a chuckle.

"Xiao Long-sama has already arrived, he is in the living area with Shishou and Shizune." Sakura said as they began walking to the living area, her blush returning when she looked back at Yang, Ruby actually noticed this.

"Did something else happen? Because you're blushing a lot when you look at Yang." Ruby asked causing both girls to blush heavily as they remembered that morning. "Something did happen." She said while she pointed at both girls. "Something happened between the pair of you." Ruby said gaining even deeper blushes from the pair, confirming her thoughts.

"Please drop it Ruby..." Yang said as she looked at the girl, her face nearly red from embarrassment.

"Why?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow, just as they entered the living area, their conversation gaining the attention of the four people within the room. "It's not like you slept together." She said receiving blanches from the two girls causing Ruby's eyes to widen. "You did? You really did?"

Their embarrassment was cut off by the sound of a pencil scratching against paper and a perverted giggling... Followed by a loud bang and the sound of a window smashing and another tree breaking. Turning they fully took in the occupants of the room, an embarrassed Shizune and a grinning Tsunade stood next to Shen, who had his eyebrow raised as he looked at the trio of girls. They were standing in front of a shattered window which a bruised and dishevelled Jiraiya was pulling himself through.

Turning her head to face Ruby, Yang released a stink eye of mammoth proportions onto the girl for revealing the secret in front of not only Jiraiya but Shen. "Well done Ruby... I really wanted Pops and Ero-sennin to know that." Yang responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"As amusing as this is we have much more important matters to discuss tonight." Tsunade said turning serious. "We will need to move into the meeting room for this discussion as it has the highest level of security in this house."

"I have some information as well Hime, but it would be better saved for later." Jiraiya said becoming serious himself. "But maybe we should wait until after dinner to discuss the heavy stuff. Those two Gaki's were training with Gai's team all day and look like they are about to collapse. Besides for my information I would need to ask everyone but you to leave."

"What is this about?" Tsunade asked with a frown. Receiving no reply she frowned even more. "We'll discuss this later, after we eat." She said as she began to move into the hall.

As they were following Shen moved up near Yang. "You slept with Ms Haruno?" He asked with a teasing tint to his voice.

"Don't you start Pops, it won't end well for you. After all Summer-kaa-san is very vocal in the bedroom so I hear all the little nicknames she has for you." Yang responded with a straight face, before whispering in his ear. "Isn't that right 'little man' or would you prefer 'honey bunch' or 'snookums.'"

"Yang, you had better not tell anyone about those." He said with steel in his voice.

"Be quiet about me and Sakura and I won't." Yang responded with a serious look on her face. "And get some damn sound proofing on your room."

Staring at her for a few moments he nodded. "We have an accord."

"Good." Was the only reply he received.

* * *

After dinner the group retired to the meeting room to discuss what was needed. They were sat around the circular meeting table, Ruby looking fairly confused as to her own presence.

"Now we have several items to discuss today but not everyone is permitted to hear everything so if you are asked to leave I expect you to leave. The first order of business is the Chunin exams." Tsunade began. "They are being held in Konoha after Suna were unable to prepare for the exam. The exams are already being prepared for, that is not the reason we need to discuss this."

Turning to face Yang she continued. "The main reason I wanted to discuss this was to ask you to participate in the exams, Naruto. We need a Genin to take the place of Nara Shikamaru on Team Ten for the exams and the only options are you and Sakura, but I do not believe Sakura is ready to become a Chunin yet, while you have shown that you are ready."

"The Chunin Exams huh?" Yang asked in thought. "I'll join, I just hope that this exam isn't a shit storm like the last time."

"I've been called back for that very reason Gaki. To make sure this one doesn't go the way of the last exam." Jiraiya said from his seat next to Tsunade.

"Unfortunately for you this means your vacation within Konoha is over." Tsunade said, steering the conversation back. "The exams have a clause to prevent teams from just being thrown together for the exams. Each team must have performed a mission of C-rank to qualify."

"Since the exams are in only two weeks this forces us to move quickly. Tomorrow Team Ten are going on a C-rank mission, it will last one and a half weeks and you are going to be joining them." Tsunade said as she looked at Yang, ignoring the look on Ruby's face at the thought of Yang being gone for nearly two weeks. "The mission is fairly simple, you will be escorting a caravan of medicinal herbs from Konoha to Suna. The client is called Saito Hiroto and you shall be escorting the caravan because bandits have raided the route in the past. You are to meet Team Ten at the Western Gate at Seven A.M. tomorrow."

"Sure Baa-chan, just be ready for the mission to get bumped up in rank, I've never had a non D-rank mission that hasn't." Yang said with a grin.

"She's right Shishou every mission she's been on outside of Konoha has gone to hell, from the mission to Nami no Kuni, to the race in Cha no Kuni, to our B-rank turned S-rank in Yuki no Kuni." Sakura said, worried now. "I fear what will happen to this mission."

"Nothing will happen in this mission, we have gone nearly a year without a mis-ranked mission and Naruto's presence will not change that." Tsunade said, mostly trying to convince herself.

"Bet you you're wrong." Yang said with a grin.

"You're on Gaki, loser has to pay two thousand Ryo." Tsunade said with a grin.

"Deal Baa-chan, be prepared to pay when I get back." Yang said with a grin.

"Tsunade-sama, you need to get back on topic." Shizune said from her said with an bwee from Tonton agreeing with her.

Giving a short sharp nod Tsunade turned to face Sakura. "Sakura I'm going to have to ask you to leave, what we're about to discuss is... Sensitive." Tsunade said, pondering how to describe the next topic with out giving much away.

"Should Ruby and I leave then?" The pinkette asked as she stood up.

"No Sakura, this information is directly related to her, she needs to stay for this." Tsunade said as she looked at the pinkette whose mouth was hanging open at the incredulous situation, before she could say anything she was cut off. "This is important Sakura, so important that I'm naming it an S-class secret. Please leave, you will find out eventually but it needs to stay a secret for at least half a decade to be safe."

"Yes Shishou." Sakura said, feeling chastised. "I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." She said as she shuffled over to the door and leaving.

"I'm going to be blunt." Tsunade said, suddenly serious. "You've opened a can of worms, this Gaki's heritage is far more dangerous than we first thought... On both sides of your family."

"On both sides... But we knew who her mother was Opal Fisk from Atlas. She moved to Vale six months before her death." Yang said in alarm at the thought. "We spent nearly six months finding out all we could about her, from school records to her birth certificate."

A small cough from Shen interrupted her. "We haven't actually talked much about the politics of the other kingdoms have we?" He said while looking at the young blonde. "Atlas is a very unstable Kingdom officially ruled by the Atlasian Royal Family but is actually ruled by whichever family has the most bribe money. In Atlas money talks and it would be very easy to create an official but completely false persona."

"So all the information we gathered could be worthless?" Yang asked incredulously.

"No it's valuable as it tells us the person in question travelled through Atlas to get to Vale." Jiraiya said as he thought over all the information that he had read about Atlas. "And that the person was wealthy enough to afford such a complete background."

"If you would let me continue you will learn Ruby's mother's identity, because I know exactly who it is." Tsunade interrupted, annoyed by how she was being ignored. "As I said both sides of her family are dangerous. Let's start with the more dangerous half of her heritage, her father was, as you had guessed, an Uchiha. This is dangerous in of itself because a whole herd of people would want to capture her for her Sharingan and to turn her into breeding stock."

Looks of shock and disgust appeared on the faces of both youths as they took in the information. The adults grimacing at the thought. "Your father was called Uchiha Souta, he was a Chunin and died during a fight with missing nin a year before the massacre. He was thirty years old upon his death and would have been twenty six when you were born."

"You also had an older brother, Uchiha Shisui, he died one week before the massacre from a supposed suicide but we never found a body and there was a lot of suspicion around Itachi killing him." Tsunade continued. "Due to the massacre it was agreed that this was the most likely scenario."

"What is her relation to Uchiha Itachi and what are the odds of him pursuing her?" Shen asked, ignoring his daughters shocked silence at the information.

"She is Itachi's first cousin and I believe the likelihood of Itachi pursuing her to be high, he personally killed her brother a week before the massacre, a boy he considered to be his own brother." Tsunade responded not bothering to sugar-coat it.

"So my only living relative is the one who murdered them all, including my brother?" Ruby asked hysterically.

"Now I didn't say that." Tsunade said responded quickly. "That is all on your Father's side but you have two living relatives on your mother's side. A grandmother and a first cousin once removed." At the look of confusion on Ruby's face she clarified. "Your mother's cousin. The funny thing is that both your grandmother and cousin are in this room." She finished causing both Jiraiya's and Shizune's head to snap to her in shock.

"Hime/Tsunade-sama you don't mean?" They both asked at the same time.

Ignoring the pair she locked eyes with the young silver eyed girl before delivering the final sentence. "Your mother's true name was Senju Mito, my only child."

Silence descended upon the room at that revelation, until it was broken by Shizune. "But that means Mito would have only been nineteen when Ruby was conceived and Souta would have been twenty five."

"My Mito liked to drink, but she didn't have my tolerance and had a habit of sleeping with anyone who was as drunk as her." Tsunade replied with a shrug. "It seems to be a problem with us Senju, we all seem to gain two vices in our lives. Mine are drinking and gambling, Mito's were drinking and sex, my father's were gambling and smoking, my grandfather's were gambling and sex."

"I didn't need to know that." Ruby muttered to herself before looking at Tsunade. "You're really my grandmother?" She asked looking Tsunade in the eyes trying to detect any form of deceit.

"Yeah I am Gaki, that's why I ran the test four times. I wanted to make sure." Tsunade said no hint of deceit in her eyes.

"So Baa-chan is actually Ruby's Baa-chan." Yang said as she looked between the pair. "So the girl I call my sister is actually the cousin of the guy I called my brother and the granddaughter of the woman I call Baa-chan. I think the Kami are fucking with me." Yang said, breaking all the tension in the room.

"Grasp the atmosphere Naruto." Jiraiya said, his voice laden with sarcasm. Pausing for a second he thought over what she had just said before frowning. "That is actually an amazing coincidence, almost too amazing."

"Well I think the mood has been lost, more like destroyed but that's just my opinion." Shen said with a look of neutrality on his face. "But that's what we get for trying to have a serious conversation with Yang in the room." Turning to Ruby he saw that she was still staring intently at Tsunade.

Coughing lightly to get Jiraiya's attention Shen mouthed a message to him. "Is the information you need to give important enough to need immediate attention or can you save it for tomorrow?" He silently asked.

Flicking his eyes over the room he saw Ruby staring at Tsunade with both Tsunade and Shizune staring at the girl. Nodding to Shen he stood up. "Well my information can wait until tomorrow, I'm going to go and research." He said to the room as he walked out the door.

"Well Yang, if you have a mission in the morning you had better go prepare and I need to check in with my superiors on the subject of the Chunin exams." Shen said as he looked at his watch, seeing that it was only half past eight. "I guess we should leave these three to it. Please try to have her back before midnight Tsunade-sama." He said before walking out of the room himself closely followed by Yang.

Giving her goodbyes she closed the door before turning to Shen. "Well I'm going to say goodbye to Sakura-chan before I go weapon shopping. Don't wait up for me." She said before beginning to walk off.

"Don't make it too rigorous a goodbye Yang, you need your energy and your sisters in the house." Shen teased.

"What was that 'honey bunch'?" Yang said with a threat within her voice.

"Shutting up now." Shen quickly replied, not even turning to look at the blonde.

"That would be for the best." Yang finished. "I'll see you later."

-Chapter 5 End-

Authors Note - I hope you liked the chapter. So I've been umming and ahhing over Ruby's pairing and i have narrowed it down to two people so I'll leave it to you. Ruby Rose, a het pairing or a yuri pairing.


	6. Chapter 6

Authors Note - Hi all, Raisuke here. Thank you for all the comments and positive reviews I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer - I do not own RWBY or Naruto. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively, please support the official releases

-Chapter 6 Start-

It was early morning, the sun was just peeking over the tree tops, the stalls were beginning to be opened and the Shinobi patrols were changing guards.

Team Ten were currently standing outside the Western gate of Konoha, next to three horses and carts, each filled with various bags of medicinal herbs. The straps holding down the bags were currently being checked by an older man, his hair was greying and patchy in some places and he had hazel coloured eyes showing experience and wisdom.

Sitting on the front seat of the cart was a young girl, no more than eight years old with purple hair going down to the small of her back and she had sapphire blue eyes that sparkled in excitement.  
Several nondescript men were milling around the carts, checking the horses and the carts for problems.

This was the scene that Yang strolled into. Choji was standing next to a wagon shovelling potato chips into his mouth as fast as he could. Ino was standing by the front seat of the cart, the eight year old nattering away at her about whatever was on her mind. Shikamaru was off to the side, leaning against a building with his eyes closed, probably wishing he was still in bed.

Sarutobi Asuma was stood next to the client asking questions about the route they were taking. No one had noticed her yet, years of having to be stealthy in a bright orange jumpsuit aiding her stealth far more than any Jonin could. Strolling over to Asuma she cleared her throat to gain his attention.

To his credit he didn't react, barring his hand twitching towards his weapons pouch. "Glad you could make it Naruto. We have to wait for the caravan to finish their checks before we can leave."

"Okay Asuma-sensei, I'll be over by Shikamaru." Yang in a tone that was too happy for the hour. Strolling over to the tree she snagged a leaf from a low branch before clasping it between her fingers.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" The sloth like boy asked from next to her, not even opening his eyes. He didn't need to open them to know where she was or even that his team was making their way over to the pair.

"The Chunin exams start in a fortnight and your team needs a new third person, that's why I'm here. We need a C-rank mission under our belts if we're going to be allowed to compete." She replied while channelling chakra into the leaf.

"Now I'm going to have to think up some new team tactics. You really know how to be a troublesome blonde." Shikamaru said as he put his hands into his thinking seal.

"You're our team-mate for the Chunin exams?" Ino asked as she walked over to the girl.

"Yep, I was asked last night and was told to go on this mission with you." Yang replied with a shrug as she attempted to change her chakra into wind natured chakra.

"Naruto, I need a sum total of your techniques for my strategies." Shikamaru said from next to her as he thought of how she could be included in the unit.

"I have the Kage Bunshin which I can create in excess of one thousand, I have a solid henge that allows me to transform myself and my Kage Bunshin into weapons, I have a souped up Kawarimi that can switch with people." Yang begun, not noticing Shikamaru's mouth drop open as he begun formulating hundreds of potential strategies just for those three techniques.

"I have the Rasengan and it's variants, the Ōdama Rasengan, the Chitcha Rasengan and the Shui Rasengan, which I can only use when I'm using the Kyuubi's chakra but it is a mid range attack." Yang continued, not even looking up from the leaf but creating one of each in her hand... Well except the Shui Rasengan.

"I also have four wind techniques, the Fūton: Daitoppa, the Fūton: Kawa, the Fūton: Reppūshō and the Fūton: Shinkūgyoku." She listed as Asuma walked over, listening to the list while looking at the leaf in her hand.  
"And I also have several fire techniques like my Taiyo no Gekido which is a wide range A-rank techniques and Taiyo no Kawa which is a C-rank flamethrower like attack and my Taiyo Rendan which is similar to the Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu." She said before looking up in thought. "I also have my Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

"That's a lot of high level techniques for a Genin." Asuma said as the rest of the team looked at her. "And I thought I said you weren't ready for elemental manipulation." He finished, raising an eyebrow at the leaf.

"Ero-sennin disagreed." Yang replied before placing the leaf in her pocket. "So are we ready to leave?"

"Yeah, Saito-san just finished his checks and I learned everything about our route. We will be following the main road west until we reach Tanzaku Gai where we will take the South-West Road to the border of Kawa no Kuni. We should get to the border within three days." He said before lighting his cigarette. "From there it will take two days to cross Kawa no Kuni including a ferry ride over the Dai River. Finally we will have to walk through the desert of Kaze no Kuni for two days to get to Sunagakure. Then we have a three day run back to Konoha."

"Then four days until the Chunin Exams." Yang said with a smirk. "And this time no invasion is going to rob me of my chance to become a Chunin."

"Focus on the mission first Naruto. We're about to set off." Ino said as she saw everyone climbing onto their carts.

"Ino you're our sensor I want you sitting on the centre cart sensing any hostile chakra within a four hundred metre radius. I'll be on the front cart to issue instructions to the lead cart in case of attack. Choji will be on the rear cart to act as the rear guard." Shikamaru began as he looked over the caravan. "Since the sides are the most likely to be attacked we need our best fighters there. Asuma-sensei and Naruto should take one side each, rotating who is in which position."

"So Asuma-sensei and I have to run while you just sit there?" Yang said with a raised eyebrow.

"The caravan will be going at a brisk walk at most, it will only go at running speed if we encounter trouble and Ino needs to sit still to get any form of range with her sensory ability." Shikamaru said with annoyance at his plan being questioned.

"And Shikamaru and Choji are just lazy asses who want to sit in the carts." Ino finished while glaring at Shikamaru.

"Asuma-sensei and Naruto have greater stamina than either of us and will have nearly full energy levels if we are attacked." Shikamaru responded. "Where as Choji and I would be sore from the walking affecting our ability to fight. Troublesome blondes."

"Guys, Shikamaru's plan is solid. Let's get into position but... Shikamaru and Choji have first watch tonight." Asuma said inwardly smirking at Shikamaru's grimace.

"I'll take the left Asuma-sensei." Yang said as she began walking over to the carts.

"We'll need to stop for half an hour every four hours Asuma-sensei, otherwise my body will cramp up and become stiff." Ino said as she moved to the centre cart before sitting with her legs crossed and her hands in a boar hand sign to the confusion of the man next to her.

All the Shinobi quickly took their positions within the caravan before they were signed out by the Chunin gate guards. The pace set by the lead cart was just as Shikamaru said, a walk, just short of a brisk walk. They were travelling an average of five miles per hour, walking speed for a Shinobi, jogging for a civilian. With nearly two hundred miles to the border this was going to be a long walk.

* * *

It was nearly four hours later when Ino finally stood up and stretched before jumping off the cart and walking next to Yang. "Asuma-sensei, I'm taking my break, there is no sensory coverage for the next half an hour." She said to her sensei while stretching her shoulders.

"Sure thing Ino, we'll just have to trust our own awareness for the next half an hour." He replied as he looked at the forest surrounding them. "We're only five miles away from the start of the plains. Then your sensory ability will be less important so you could take more breaks."

"Asuma-sensei, should I scatter Kage Bunshin among the trees as a temporary replacement?" Yang asked from where she was walking.

"Sure Naruto, just don't overdo it." Asuma said as he took a drag on his cigarette. "No more than ten, we don't want to draw undue attention to ourselves."

With a burst of smoke Yang was surrounded by clones of herself causing several of the men to gape and the girl to become starry eyed, the clones quickly vanished into the trees, out of everyone's view.

"So Naruto, I heard an interesting rumour this morning, I was wondering if you could tell me if there's any truth to it?" Ino asked with a knowing grin. "Apparently a perverted old Shinobi with white hair got drunk last night and was heard saying how proud he was that his apprentice lost her virginity. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Yang began choking on air at that question causing Ino to grin as her question was answered. "Who'd you lose it with? Was it Neji? Or that weirdo Lee?"

Before she could reply Shikamaru spoke. "Naruto was very clear on her preferences when we hung out Ino."

"Who out of our group was it..? Hinata's on a mission so it wasn't her, Tenten holds a candle for Neji so it probably wasn't her and it obviously wasn't me so that only leaves... Forehead." Ino said in thought, smirking on the last word when Yang gulped. "You slept with Sakura, didn't you?"

Yang just kept her mouth shut, looking forward determinedly, she wouldn't give anything away. "My nephew told me that he got to hang out with Naruto's sister because Naruto and Sakura were going to dinner the night before last." Asuma said, adding his own piece. He was enjoying Ino bugging someone other than him about their love life.

"Naruto give me details." Ino said forcefully, gripping Yang arm to prevent her from fleeing. "Give me all the details." In response Yang only mumbled something. "What was that? I didn't quite catch that." Ino responded to the mumble, everyone on the caravan was being amused by Yang's discomfort.

"I can't remember any of the details, I was drunk as a skunk and then some." Yang said slightly louder than she meant to.

"Is that why Hokage-sama was yelling at Sakura to buy some more Sake and that it was coming out of her pay check? " Asuma asked as he thought back to the previous morning when he was called in to be informed about the Chunin Exams.

"Well that's no fun, what's the point of fishing for details if the person can't even remember the details." Ino responded while pouting before giving a shrug. "At least you admitted to sleeping with her."

"Could you go bug Asuma-sensei about him and Kurenai-sensei? He at least remembers the details." Yang supplied, trying to get the girl off her back.

"What? Do you not enjoy my company?" Ino replied with mock hurt in her voice while hugging Yang's arm into her chest, causing her to blush. "You don't want your Ino-chan to leave do you?"

Yang could only stammer at Ino's actions, her blush deepening and a small amount of blood beginning to dribble out of her nose. Fortunately for her, she was saved by Asuma. "That's enough Ino, she looks like her head is about to explode." He said with a chuckle. "You can tease her later."

"Yes Asuma-sensei." Ino replied with a pout. "Until later Naru-chan." She said, stressing the chan that Ino was adding for the first time. Yang just knew this wasn't over, she should just enjoy her break.

* * *

It was nearly two hours later when the caravan stopped for lunch. They had made it onto the plains nearly an hour before and they had kept walking until they reached a small river, barely larger than a stream. Once they arrived the workers immediately got to work, disconnecting the horses and leading them over to the water while Hiroto began a cooking fire.

Of the Shinobi, Ino immediately walked over to the river, splashing water over her face to remove any drowsiness from her lack of movement. Choji was sat near the back of the caravans with another packet of potato chips. Shikamaru was lying down on the bench seat of the front caravan just watching the clouds. Asuma was standing on the far side of the carts lighting his cigarette while looking over the grassy plain.  
'One by the water, one over on the other side and one on each end. It's a basic Manji no Jin. Guess I'm in the centre.' Yang thought to herself as she looked over the group.

Giving a nod towards Asuma Yang walked over to the fire where the client was sat. He was currently boiling a kettle of water that one of the workers had handed him. Next to him sat the young purple haired girl who was rocking backwards and forwards with a wide smile on her face. Sitting down next to the fire Yang pulled out her leaf before beginning to add chakra once more.

'If it's meant to cut the leaf it needs to be sharp, that means it needs to be thin, like a knife.' Yang thought while staring at the leaf before adjusting her chakra flow. Slowly but surely a small cut began to appear on the leaf, only a few millimetres deep but it was there. 'It's a start... But I need to cut the entire leaf not just a fraction of it.' Yang thought before she heard the kettle whistle.

Ignoring it for the time being she continued trying to cut the leaf, getting an extra millimetre in before something was placed down next to her. Turning she saw it was a cup of instant ramen, put next to her by the client. He gave her a small smile before he stood up and carried several more cups around the groups, distributing them among everyone, caravanner and shinobi alike.

'Ramen for lunch? He's my type of client.' Yang thought as she stirred the ramen in it's cup before beginning to eat. As she ate the client returned, sitting down next to the young girl who was also eating a cup of ramen.

"We'll be setting off in fifteen minutes and won't be stopping until we reach our stopping point for tonight, it's roughly forty miles from Tanzaku Gai." He said as he looked over at her. "It's eight hours away from here."

Nodding slowly at the information she was given, she quickly slurped up the ramen that was dangling from her mouth. "Have you used this route before?" She asked curiously.

"About fifty times in my life, twice a year unless there's a war on. I've only ever had problems with a few bandits but whoever I have as guards drive them off." He responded as he stirred his own ramen.

"That's good, where do the bandits usually strike?" Yang asked between mouthfuls of noodles.

"They usually strike about ten miles from the border with Kawa no Kuni or in the desert of Kaze no Kuni." He said with a frown. "The bandits usually come from roaming bands that move to wherever they hear of a caravan and a caravan like mine, carrying medicinal herbs, is a tempting target."

Suddenly a shriek from Ino gained the attention of everyone, causing them all to run towards the disturbance, once they got to the river, the reason for her shriek became apparent. Floating slowly down the river was a corpse, a corpse wearing a Konoha standard issue chunin vest.

Just before Yang could run out onto the water she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder from Shikamaru. "Send a clone to make sure he isn't trapped." Shikamaru said as he looked at the river.

In a puff of smoke a copy of Yang appeared before it moved over to the body, frisking it to make sure it was safe. After the clone was finished searching him it carried the corpse to the river bank.

"Asuma-sensei can you estimate a time of death on him?" Yang shouted to the man as she got close to the corpse and the Kage Bunshin dispelled. Asuma was already at the body, checking it over.

Kneeling next to the body she immediately checked his neck, pulling off the man's dog tags to identify him. "He's Yamamoto Souta, he's a chunin of Konoha, shinobi number zero-one-three-zero-seven-nine."

"He only has one stab wound in his arm which should have been non-fatal and no signs of blunt force trauma, suggesting poison." Asuma said from where he was crouched, all signs of the laid back sensei were erased and in his place was a Jonin. "From the temperature of the river and his body temperature I would say he's been dead for three hours but I can't be certain."

"Can we identify the poison?" Yang asked with a frown.

"I know a few people who could but none of them are here. We'll need to send a message back to Konoha can you write it? I'll get everyone ready before creating a body scroll for Sota-san, he deserves a burial within Konoha." Asuma said while shaking his head. Standing up Asuma looked among the assembled caravanner before addressing them. "Get those horses ready, I want to be in Tanzaku Gai by nightfall."

He turned back around after hearing a noise from Yang and saw a red toad wearing goggles sitting in front of her. "Naruto? Why'd you summon me?" The toad asked as he looked at the blonde.

"I need a message delivered Kōsuke." Yang replied while brandishing a scroll. "This scroll and one other."  
"Sure, tell me when you're ready." The toad said before looking out over the water.

"Hey Asuma-sensei can we get him sealed now? The sooner we do that the sooner we can leave." Yang said before looking at the man in question.

Walking over to her he flipped open two of his vests scroll pockets, bringing out a blank scroll and a pot of ink. Opening the scroll he dipped one finger in the ink before writing out a few dozen small kanji surrounding a large kanji for seal. Placing the scroll on the corpse he made several hand signs before the body vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving only the scroll remaining. He quickly rolled it up before adding a black band to the scroll to signify that there was a corpse within the scroll.

"What information did you put in the message?" Asuma asked as he handed the scroll to the girl.

"Location, how we discovered him, estimated time of death, his information and our information if Baa-chan isn't the person to read the scroll." The girl responded with a sigh as she looked at the scroll in her hand.

"The Hokage will be the one to read the scroll as she's our designated handler. But you're right that she will not be the only one to read the scroll." Asuma confirmed. "So you're sending the toad to Konoha?"

"His name's Kōsuke, he's a messenger toad. He's who I use to contact Ero-sennin. He should get the message to Konoha within half an hour." Yang responded as she passed the scrolls to the toad who vanished with an 'Yosh.' "Should I send some clones upriver to find the battlefield Asuma-sensei?"

"Not too many Naruto, we need to get moving and we'll be going much faster this time." Asuma replied before Ino ran over.

"We're ready to leave Asuma-sensei. We just need you two to take your positions." Ino said before running back to the middle cart and sitting down.

Yang quickly created ten Kage Bunshin who immediately ran upstream, split between both banks. "Let's get moving, we have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall." Asuma yelled towards the caravan as he got into position, quickly followed by Yang.

The caravan began moving at a much quicker pace than before.

* * *

They were travelling at nearly double the speed they had been moving at before, it had been nearly twenty minutes since they had left the river bank when Yang suddenly stumbled as she received memories from her clones.

"Asuma-sensei, we have trouble." Yang yelled as she righted herself. "My Kage Bunshin found the battlefield and was attacked by some Shinobi."

"What happened?" Asuma asked in worry as he looked at the girl.

"My Kage Bunshin had been travelling upriver for fifteen minutes before they found the battlefield." Yang began.

-Flashback Start-

'My clone was henged as a bird trying to spot the battle from above when it heard the sounds of combat.'  
The clashing of blades could be heard from nearly fifty metres in the air, flying towards the disturbance she arrived just in time to see the final Konoha Shinobi collapse from her wounds. Their opponents were two Shinobi, one male and one female. The male had was five foot eleven and was wearing a beige jumpsuit, he had short blue hair and was wearing tinted goggles and a rebreather. In his hands was a black tsurugi that had a tint of purple to it.

The woman was also wearing a rebreather and untinted goggles showing brown eyes, she had waist length green hair. She was five foot six and was wearing a jumpsuit of greens, yellows and reds, almost like a flowery pattern. On her back was a large scroll.

Circling overhead she listened to the conversation of the two nin. "Did you find the gold Taiga?" The woman asked as she pulled the large scroll from her back.

"Yeah, the Jonin had it sealed within his flak jacket. Do you know where Nii-sama is Mizore?" The now named Taiga responded as he picked up the weapons that had fallen during the battle.

"He went to scout out our next target." Mizore replied while opening the scroll and summoning a man wearing an Iwa standard issue Chunin uniform. The man was glaring at the woman but was unable to move from where he was laid. "Glare all you want sweetie, you'll be paralysed for the next hour... Not that you'll live that long." She said before grabbing the sword of one of the Konoha Shinobi and looking at him. "Taiga, pick him up so I can make the wounds look real."

"Slave driver." Taiga muttered as he hauled up the paralysed nin, propping him up to allow for Mizore to slice the Iwa nin several times, a few shallow scratches here and there followed by one cut through the shoulder that sliced through the man's heart, killing him instantly. "How many are we leaving here?"

"We're leaving three corpses here, that should be enough to fool the tree huggers." Mizore responded while summoning another Iwa nin. "Other than that we have to wait until Yamato comes back." This time she threw a brace of shuriken at the paralysed nin catching him in the throat.

Yang was feeling sick by this point but kept watching until another nin come running through the grass up to the duo. This one was five foot six and had blue hair in a top knot, his eyes were a dark purple and he was wearing a blue and black hakama.

He looked extremely annoyed as he walked over to Taiga. "You baka, the next target is on high alert because you allowed a corpse to land in the river." The man yelled.

"What do you mean Nii-sama?" Taiga asked in confusion.

"The caravan found the corpse that you allowed into the river. They are now travelling far faster than before and have sent the corpse back to Konoha before I could remove my poison from his wounds." The man snarled red in the face.

"Why didn't you recover the corpse Yamato? They were only a Genin squad." Mizore responded finally naming the man.

"It isn't that simple Mizore." Yamato snarled back. "That squad has a high Jonin and from what I saw three chunin level clan nin and Konoha's Jinchuuriki. It would have been suicide."

"How do you know a Jinchuuriki is among the squad?" Mizore asked with narrowed eyes.

"Because unlike you two numbskulls I actually read the bingo book. She has an entire page dedicated to her and a fairly hefty bounty." The man snarled. "She's worth more than you two and is only worth three million ryo less than me. The Jonin is worth thirty five million ryo on the black market."

"Are you scared Yamato? We are being paid a large amount for this job and I won't let you screw this up for us." Mizore growled at the man.

"I'm not saying not to go for it, I'm saying that we need to be careful. A Jinchuuriki is always a dangerous opponent we need to be careful. This Jinchuuriki has shown to be resistant to poison, she was stabbed by the demon brothers who used some of Kiri's deadliest poisons and she didn't even notice. She had a hole the size of your fist going straight through her chest and she healed within ten seconds, her neck was snapped after a twenty metre drop and it was repaired by the time she stood up. She is extremely dangerous." Yamato snarled before stopping and looking around. "We're being watched." He said before launching a kunai in her general direction.

Yang banked and dived towards the ground only to have several bullets of a purple and green liquid to be launched at her. 'Damn I'm not good enough at flying to dodge this.' She thought before dispelling her henge mid-flight and kicking off the ground to move above the bullets.

Suddenly Taiga was in front of her with his blade raised, ready to bifurcate her. Charging chakra into her palm she created a quick Rasengan before slamming it into the blade, causing sparks to leap off the sword before he was launched backwards, slamming into the ground.

The world around her suddenly began to morph and change as flowers began sprouting around her. 'Kuso, genjutsu.' She thought in annoyance before pulling a live flash bomb from her weapons pouch, blinding everyone in the vicinity and causing the woman to drop her genjutsu.

Unfortunately the damage had been done and Yang's bunshin vanished as a senbon hit her arm.

-Flashback End-

"They're going to attack this caravan and are only a thirty minute run from our location." Yang summarised as she looked at her temporary sensei.

Scratching his chin in thought Asuma suddenly reached into his vest before pulling out a book and throwing it to Yang. "That's the bingo book, you said they mentioned having a bounty, find them so we know who we're up against." He ordered before motioning for the caravan to increase it's speed.

Yang spent several minutes flipping through the book before finding all their pictures on a single page. "Found them." Yang yelled to Asuma. "Dokubana Mizore, low B-rank threat, low Jonin level missing-nin from Kusa. She uses genjutsu and poisonous weapons. Worth Ten million ryo."

"Orochi Taiga, low B-rank threat, low Jonin level missing-nin from Kusa. He uses a poisoned tsurugi which he stole from Kusagakure, it was their attempt at recreating the Kusanagi. He also summons poison dart frogs. He's worth twelve million ryo."

"Finally we have Orochi Yamato, low B-rank threat, mid Jonin level missing-nin from Kusa. He uses the Dokuton kekkei genkai. He's worth eighteen million ryo." Yang recited from the page before throwing the book back at him.

"Yamato is the biggest threat so if worse comes to worst I'll fight him, the four of you will have to fight the other two." Asuma began before looking at Shikamaru to continue. As he put his fingers into his thinking seal Yang spoke.

"Ero-sennin said I'm high-Chunin level without the Kyuubi's chakra, with it... He said that unless my opponent is an A-rank he wouldn't bet against me. I think it would be best if I fought Taiga. I'm resistant to his poisons, I have my toad summons to combat his frogs and he will already be mad at me for drilling him into the ground."

"Asuma-sensei, what level would you estimate our team to be when working together." Shikamaru asked from his seat as they bounced on a rock due to the speed they were travelling.

"I think you could defeat a B-rank Shinobi." Asuma answered from where he was slowly running... Well a slow run for a Jonin. "You would struggle but you could do it."

"So you will fight Yamato, Naruto will fight Taiga and we will fight Mizore. We need to keep moving and it would be best if we kept our opponents separate, we have no idea how well they work together or if they have any combination strategies." Shikamaru summarised from where he was sat.

"I'll lead my opponent at least half a kilometre away, that should be enough to prevent me from damaging any of you guys." Yang said as she adjusted her weapons.

"Shouldn't one of us help Naruto?" Choji asked as he pulled on his families basic combat armour, it was a plate armour that covered his chest and shoulders.

"My style is far too destructive for someone to join in just like that and I have no idea of how to fight with any of you so we would only hold each other back." Yang responded. "We would get in each other's way far too much and the level of my attacks would be limited."

"But..." Choji attempted to protest before he was cut off by Asuma.

"Sometimes the greatest teamwork is knowing when to get out of the way. If you are at such different levels then teamwork requires much more effort."

"But that means Naruto will have to fight alone." Choji said uncomfortable at the idea.

"I'm never alone Choji... I'm never alone." She responded softly with a smile. "My allies are strong and many, you don't have to worry about me. That's a promise of a lifetime."

For some reason he felt better after that, he really did.

* * *

"I told you that we had to be careful." Yamato hissed as he bandaged Taiga's hand. "You're lucky she only hit your sword with that technique, if she had hit your body you would have died."

"I know Nii-sama, that attack chipped my blade, a blade made from Chakra Forged Titanium. This is the strongest metal known to man and she chipped it." He snarled as he looked at his blade. "That attack would have gone through me like I was tissue paper."

"She didn't seem that strong to me, we defeated her quickly enough." Mizore said from where she was sat her mask hanging off her face allowing her smug look to show.

"Don't get arrogant Mizore, we only fought a bunshin, a weak bunshin that was destroyed with a single scratch." Yamato said as he finished tying the bandages around his brothers hand.

"Are you losing your edge Yamato? This entire time you have us playing it carefully, you keep acting as though we can lose." Mizore responded with a hard glint to her eyes.

"I agree with Nii-sama on this Mizore. We need to be careful with them, we might die if we're not." Taiga responded, shocking Mizore into silence, before he picked up his blade before offering it to Yamato. "Would you mind?" He asked apologetically."

Shaking his head slightly Yamato grabbed the sword before dousing it in poison, even as Mizore recovered from her shock. "What's this Taiga, are you wussing out as well? I thought you had a spine?"

"There is a difference between being cowardly and being cautious Mizore, we are outnumbered and they have the power advantage. We need to plan our fight carefully." Yamato responded as he flicked some poison off the sword revealing it to be repaired. "We need to win this through cunning and choosing our opponents."

"The Jinchuuriki has a lot of raw power and the attack she used on Taiga was at least an A-rank technique." Pulling out his bingo book he flipped to the correct page. "Let's see about her. This information is nearly a year old. Her name's Uzumaki Naruto, she's thirteen years old, a Genin of Konoha and the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. She was estimated as a C-rank Shinobi a year ago, she has been on six C-rank missions, one B-rank mission and one A-rank mission. Of those missions four C-ranks became B-ranks, two became A-ranks and the B-rank became an S-rank. She is noted as playing a large part in the success of each mission and has a one hundred percent mission completion rating." Yamato read out loud to the others.

"She uses overwhelming numbers of Kage Bunshin and the Yondaime Hokage's personal A-rank technique the Rasengan to defeat her opponents. She has an abnormally strong healing factor that allows her to shrug off most wounds and poisons and has a summoning contract with the Toad clan. She is worth fifteen million ryo."  
"The Jonin is Sarutobi Asuma, he is twenty eight years old and a Jonin of Konoha, he is an ex-member of the Shugonin Jūnishi, the elite guardians of the fire daimyo. He is an A-rank Shinobi that has been on one hundred and ninety three C-rank missions, two hundred and seventeen B-rank missions, one hundred and seventy eight A-rank missions and twenty S-rank missions. He uses Fūton and Katon ninjutsu and is a master of knife combat. He is worth thirty five million ryo." He finished before slamming his book closed.

He sat there for nearly ten minutes with his head in his hands as he tried to think of a strategy, ignoring Mizore attempting to draw him into a fight or Taiga's responses to her verbal assaults. 'I would be the only one capable of fighting Sarutobi, I would need to keep him at range while we fought but with my poisons it is possible.'

'Taiga would go straight for the Jinchuuriki no matter what I said but he's the only one with summons that could match the Jinchuuriki's, he would need to end the fight quickly, if it became a battle of attrition the Jinchuuriki would win.'

'Finally are the two Genin and the Chunin. Mizore should be able to deal with them if she doesn't underestimate them... Which she will... At least they'll be kept busy and either Taiga or I can reinforce her when we win.' Nodding to himself he looked up to see Mizore and Taiga at each others throats. "Listen up, I thought of a plan."

* * *

They had been travelling for nearly three hours since Yang had the clones memories return to her, she had resummoned Kosuke and had sent him with the new information during this time. They had set a high pace and had entered a large forest. They were still forty five miles from Tanzaku Gai and there had been no sign of the missing-nin.

"Are you sure they're chasing us? We haven't seen them yet." Hiroto yelled back to the Shinobi. "We're killing the horses, they won't be able to keep this pace up for much longer."

"They'll probably be setting up an ambush to attack us from, they did their homework on us so they will want to take us out before we know what's happening." Shikamaru responded, keeping his attention on his surroundings. "When they do attack you must keep going, no matter what happens with us keep going."

The next ten minutes were nerve wracking, as they waited for the inevitable ambush. They weren't to be disappointed as Ino suddenly snapped from her meditative state with a yell of "Incoming."

"Go!" Shikamaru yelled causing the carts to speed up but even as they raced across the ground a giant cloud of smoke appeared above them revealing a giant yellow and black frog falling on top of them.

"Kuso, Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Yang yelled creating one hundred clones who all made hand signs. "Tajū Fūton: Daitoppa." They yelled in unison before releasing a large gale from their mouths which slammed into the frog causing it to fall away from the caravan.

"Dokugiri." The voice of Yamato yelled before a purple mist began forming in front of the caravan.  
"Keep going." Yang yelled before several clones ran in front of the lead cart blowing the gas away with a few quick Fūton: Reppūshō.

Even as she did so she had to flip over a sword that threatened to bifurcate her. Creating a spark on her tongue she sent a flamethrower at her opponent with a yell of 'Taiyo no Kawa.'

The flame engulfed the man while launching Yang away from him and across the road allowing her to slam her feet into the face of Mizore who was attempting to follow the caravan. She was caught by an annoyed Yamato.

"Pay attention Mizore, even a second of inattention can kill you." He hissed to the woman.

"That's good advice." Asuma said to the pair as he attacked them with his knuckle blades, slicing dangerously close to their necks with each swing. "Maybe you should follow it yourself."

Neither of them answered his statement, too focused on dodging his blades for a comeback. They were saved from having their throats sliced by an overhead slash from a Tsurugi, causing Asuma to dodge to the side to escape. "Dokuton: Kussaku Dangan." Yamato murmured before releasing a dozen purple and green bullets from his mouth straight at Asuma.

"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku" Yang yelled before a dozen air bullets destroyed his poison bullets. "Hey Taiga, how's the hand?" She asked the swordsman, trying to rile him up.

"The hands fine bitch." He snarled in response, clenching his hurt hand, causing a lance of pain to shoot up his arm. "I'd be more worried about your head." He spat at the girl.

Danger senses flaring she leaped into the air, narrowly dodging a giant dart that slammed into the ground where she had been standing. Turning her head slightly she saw that it was fired by the frog summon.

It was the size of Gamabunta and resplendent in black and gold Mayan style adornments. It was holding a tube in one hand that was obviously it's blowpipe and had a dart in it's other hand that it was dragging across his back.

"Mizore, go destroy the caravan, we'll deal with things here." Yamato said to the woman before spitting a stream of poison at Asuma causing him to dodge by running around his side.

"You don't have to tell me what to do Yaro." She spat before running down the path after the retreating carts. She was out of sight within a minute.

A soft chuckle came from Asuma's mouth after she disappeared before he looked at Yamato. "You know you sent her to her death don't you?" He asked as he looked at the man.

"That's why I need to kill you quickly, Taiga would be upset if his source of ass was killed." Yamato responded before spitting a wave of poison at his opponent. Before the poison could engulf Asuma's form he vanished in a cloud of smoke to be replaced by a log.

Suddenly Yamato was back on the defensive as Asuma began trying to cut him from behind. "You should worry about yourself first, you'll live longer that way."

"Don't worry, you have my full attention." He replied before dropping a kunai into his hand from his sleeve. In a rain of sparks they clashed knives, their battle truly begun.

* * *

(Yang vs. Taiga)

"Fūton: Daitoppa." Yang yelled from where she was falling through the air launching herself away from Asuma's battlefield towards the giant frog summon.

As she closed in on the summon she flipped over onto her feet, just in time to land in the giant blowpipe as the frog loaded it. Forming chakra in her palm she slammed her hand downwards with a yell. "Ōdama Rasengan." The oversized Rasengan began boring into the wooden blowpipe but she was spotted before she could finish.

"Damn bugs." The frog muttered as he slammed his hand down on the blowpipe. "They should know better than to touch my pipe." Suddenly the smell of burnt flesh began permeating the area and his hand begun burning and blistering forcing the frog to remove his hand from the blowpipe.

White flames licked the frog's hand, burning all it touched. Quickly moving his hand away from the flames the frog scowled before swinging his blowpipe with all his might to remove the pest.

Yang lost her footing as she was swung around and was launched through the air towards the forest. 'This is far enough.' She thought to herself before biting her thumb hard enough to draw blood. Running through the hand seals she pushed her hand downwards, the sealing formula creating itself in midair.

In a gargantuan cloud of smoke Yang found herself standing on top of a familiar red toad.

"What the? Who summoned me this time?" Gamabunta said from within the smoke.

"Gama-Oyabun." Yang said as she looked over the side of his head. "I need your help with some bad guys."

"Gaki? You need my help?" The toad boss asked as he looked at the girl. "You still haven't shared a drink with me yet."

"But I can't afford enough alcohol for you and I need your help to defeat this stupid frog." Yang responded with a whine.

"Did you say frog?" He asked with narrowed eyes before looking out of the fading smoke to spot the yellow and black giant. "It's you, you Kaeru Yaro."

"You know him?" Yang asked with a blink.

"He's the boss of the poison dart frogs. He gained enough political power to become the boss of his clan after he poisoned the previous boss of the toad clan. We've been wanting to kill him for nearly sixty years now." Bunta replied before taking an angry drag on his pipe. "Forget the drink, forget being my underling, if you help me kill him today I'll acknowledge you as my equal."

"Really?" Yang asked in shock. "Just like that?"

"You don't mess with family, that's the family code." Gamabunta simply said as he glared hatefully at the frog. "Let's go."

In a burst of jarring speed, the toad boss launched himself forwards, unsheathing his blade as he did so before launching a slice towards the frog boss that was blocked by the frog's blowpipe. "It's you, Gama-kozō." The frog boss said as he pushed Gamabunta's blade away from him. "I guess I get to rob the toads of another boss."

Rather than relying Gamabunta struck forwards with a reckless abandon, clashing his blade on the blowpipe. Sparks flew into the air as the blade dragged down the side of the pipe which was taken advantage of.  
"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku." Yang yelled, releasing a barrage of air bullets which ignited on the giant sparks sending bullets of fire towards the frogs left eye.

"Suiton: Suijinheki." Came a voice from on top of the frog boss before a large amount of water formed in front of the toads eye, blocking the fire.

Standing on the frog boss' back was Taiga, he was just moving his hands apart from his jutsu and had a light sweat on his brow. "Oyabun, get me close enough to jump onto the frogs head, I need to deal with the summoner." Yang ordered as she looked at the man.

"You sure? The frog's skin is toxic, if you touch it with your bare flesh you could be put out of the fight." Bunta said as he glared at the frog.

"I'm sure Bunta, I'll be fine." She reassured the Toad boss. "I just need to get on top of him."

"I can do that." Gamabunta said before grabbing the blonde in his webbed hand. "Brace for landing Gaki." He said before once more slamming his blade into the blowpipe, suddenly he launched his hand forwards sending the girl flying through the air.

"Fūton: Daitoppa." She yelled before using the winds to slow herself down and land on her feet. Immediately she rushed forwards while creating half a dozen Kage Bunshin to support her.

Before she could reach the man he released a flurry of shuriken to attack her. They destroyed three of the clones through scratches but it was all for naught as the first clone arrived, launching a punch at his face. He moved his head out of the way of the punch before pull his blade upwards, stabbing the clone from below, dispelling it before slicing downwards into a clone that was trying to punch him in the stomach.

Suddenly a foot found its way on top of the sword, sending it to the ground while leaving his chest open for the side kick that followed, causing him to tumble on the frogs back. As he stopped rolling he suddenly had to move his head as a foot slammed into the area his head had been but moments before. Launching himself upwards he planted his fist into the girls face causing her to disappear in a cloud of smoke. "Well that was interesting." Yang said from where she was standing next to his fallen blade. "You defeated six of my clones while taking a hit of your own. Now how will you do with this." She said before creating a hand sign. "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

In a giant cloud of smoke Taiga found himself surrounded by hundreds of blondes, his frog summon grunting under the increased weight. "Let's go, ne." They ask said with identical grins.

"Fucking hell." Taiga said with a grimace as he looked over the crowd. "This is gonna suck." He said before the clones began charging.

* * *

(InoShikaCho vs. Mizore)

The caravan was thundering along the path the horses were more than happy to sprint away from the appearance of the giant frog, even more when the giant toad appeared beside it and began attacking it, the echoes of the clashes sounding throughout the forest.

The three Konoha Shinobi were all on alert with their hands down by their weapons pouches ready to act on a moments notice. The sound of shuriken flying through the air drew their attention, causing them to deflect them with their own shuriken.

The clangs of the weapons filled the air before the world seemed to warp and the wood of the carts began growing and wrapping around each person, immobilising them. 'Auditory Genjutsu?' Shikamaru thought to himself as the branches began wrapping around him. Biting his lip he dispelled the technique in time to see Mizore about to stab Ino from behind. 'Kuso.' He thought before stretching out his shadow.

Just before the woman could stab Ino the girl kicked backwards from the ground catching Mizore in the stomach causing her to stumble backwards a few steps. The impact with the missing-nin's stomach was enough to awaken Ino from the illusion.

Shaking herself she saw the missing-nin behind her with a knife in her hand and Shikamaru knelt in the same position as her. Seeing her shadow attached to his she understood what had happened. "Arigatō Shikamaru." She said as the shadow released her.

"Use your Shinranshin to break the genjutsu." Shikamaru ordered the girl.

Her eyes widening, she quickly flew through the hand seals activating the technique. 'Of course, the main method of dispelling genjutsu is to disrupt the chakra network, that's why he wants me to use Shinranshin, it disrupts the connection between the mind and the body by attacking the chakra network. By using the jutsu I can disrupt everyone's chakra, breaking the genjutsu and allowing everyone to escape.'

"Shinranshin no Jutsu." She said before everyone groaned at once as they were released from the technique. Shikamaru never gave anyone the opportunity to recover before he began issuing orders.

"Don't stop, no matter what happens to us. Choji, Ino, we have to stay with the carts but we also have to defeat her, use formation five, strategy twenty four to begin before moving into twenty two. I'll call out the next formation as we need it." He said from where he was knelt. "This entire situation is troublesome, I wanted a simple mission where I could sit down and be lazy but no I couldn't have that." He mumbled to himself as he looked at the woman who had just righted herself.

"I'm going to kill all of you little shits, you who had the gall to strike me. Then I'm going to kill everyone here and then maybe I'll torture your sensei with your corpses." She sneered while staring at Shikamaru.

"Hm, you troublesome woman. You make it sound like we're just going to sit back and let you kill us." Shikamaru responded with a lazy grin. "Now I want to take a nap so we're going to have to finish you quickly."

"Die Gaki." Was all the woman sneered before launching herself forwards. The battles had all begun.

-Chapter 6 End-

AN- Hi all, I thank you for all the support and for all the people who are answering my poll. The poll will remain up until the posting of chapter 7 in 4 weeks.

I apologise for it taking 4 weeks instead of my usual 2 but i'm on going on holiday and the place has no WiFi so yeah... that sucks. I'll see you next time


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